Valour does not wait - Battle of Prestonpans 1745

Valour does not waitTHE RISE AND FALL OF CHARLES EDWARD STUARTARRAN JOHNSTON

Valour does not wait“In great Princes whom nature has marked out for heroes,valour does not wait for number of years.”In December 1720 a great storm devastated the state of Hanover,announcing of the birth of the military leader who would sweepaway the injustices of Hanoverian rule in Great Britain andIreland. That leader was Charles Edward Stuart. Born in exile, theyoung Charles spent his childhood in Italy waiting to be calledupon by destiny. He was the last hope of restoring the Stuarts tothe throne.Before he was 25, Charles would shake the British establishmentto its very foundations, forcing all of Europe to take notice. By thetime he died at 68, he was a forgotten political relic and a touristcuriosity.This new book delves deep into the Prince’s mind, seeking toexpose the motivations and talents of one of the 18th Century’smost extraordinary political figures. What persuaded a 24 year oldexile that he could overthrow the British government? Why didhard-headed strangers risk all that they had for him and his cause?How did he conquer armies and capture cities with almost nomilitary experience? And then where did it all go wrong?Born from the author’s personal fascination with this exceptionalcharacter and his knowledge of the areas through which hecampaigned, this new study explores how the 1745 Rising allowedthe Prince to show off his greatest abilities, and how it affected hisstate of mind so deeply that it haunted the rest of his life.This is the story of a young man’s extraordinary achievements, ofhis hopes and ambitions, failures and torments. It is the story ofthe real Bonnie Prince Charlie, and the mission which first made,and then destroyed him..

Valour does not wait

Valour doesnot waitThe Rise and Fall of Charles Edward StuartArran Paul JohnstonPublished by Prestoungrange University Press in associationwith Burke’s Peerage & Gentry

First Published 2010Copyright © 2010 Battle of Prestonpans (1745) Heritage TrustAll rights reserved. Copyright under international and Pan-American CopyrightConventions.No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system ortransmitted in any other form or by any other means, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of thepublisher and copyright holder. Within the UK, exceptions are allowed inrespect of any fair dealing for the purpose of research or private study, orcriticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,1988.While the publisher makes every effort possible to publish full and correctinformation in this book, sometimes errors of omission or substance may occur.For this the publisher is most regretful, but hereby must disclaim any liability.ISBN 978-0-85011-124-8The portrait of Prince Charles Edward on the front cover was painted byKate Hunter for the Battle of Prestonpans 1745 Heritage Trust following thecontroversy over La Tour’s portrait now belived to be of Charles’s brotherHenry.Prestoungrange University Press with Burke’s Peerage & Gentry forThe Battle of Prestonpans 1745 Heritage Trust227/229 High Street, PrestonpansEast Lothian, Scotland EH32 9BEDesign & Typesetting by Chat Noir Design, FrancePrinted & bound in Great Britain

ContentsAuthor’s Introduction 7Aeneas 16The Politician 41The Fall of Edinburgh 60The Soldier 79Victory at Prestonpans 96Living with Murray 112Defeat at Culloden 140The Fugitive Prince 159King Charles III 186Appendix I 197Appendix II 201Appendix III 205Appendix IV 210Bibliography 2135

Author’s IntroductionWhen I was about ten years old, growing up in southernDerbyshire, my parents turned their thoughts to my secondaryeducation. At that point, I was studying in the dark Victoriancharm of Friar Gate House, a fine Georgian town house in thecentre of Derby, and although it was a small, often bemusingschool, I’ve been known to credit it with the responsibility forsome of my better traits. Nevertheless, it was time to move.Little did I know it then, but just a short distance walk fromthe school yard, two hundred and fifty years before had stood thebaggage of an invading army.After exploring a number of options, I set out to gain a placeat Derby Grammar School, based in the rather more rural settingof Rykneld Hall. Although the hall was old, the school was new,and that gamble made the experience all the more exciting forme, if not my parents. In truth, however, the school claimedrightful descent from its proud predecessor, Derby School, andwas formed with the support and passion of those Old Derbeianswho still mourned the loss of their school in 1989. Rykneld’spanelled halls were therefore filled with memorabilia of theancient grammar, its former pupils, and its impressive heritage.On the wall there hung a sketch of an old Tudor schoolhouse onSt Peter’s Street in Derby, a building I often passed in the city butrarely noticed.Little did I know, two hundred and fifty years before, thoseschoolrooms had been filled with the exhausted bodies ofsleeping clansmen.To win a place at the school, I needed to perform well in theentrance papers, and my parents were keen to offer me everyadvantage. They dutifully prepared exercises for me to practice at,and one night they sat me down at the dining room table andinstructed me to compose a short story. I sat in the quiet room,in our house in Swanwick, and scribbled away in the spidery7

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITscrawl that I would later strive to restrain. It has made a surprisereturn this year, in fact. The details of the story have long slippedmy mind and memory, but I recall the general gist, with theamusement of hindsight. I wrote with the voice of a young Derbylad, not unlike myself, who struck up a friendship with amysterious stranger staying in the town. No doubt the boy wasconfused by the activity in the city, and the unusual behaviour ofthe adults around him. But when the time came for the strangerto depart, he left behind him a letter, addressed to the boy. Uponopening it, the young Derbeian saw to his amazement that it wassigned in a bold hand: Bonnie Prince Charlie. Somehow, and Iknow not how, this man and his name had entered into mypsyche. It is my first memory of him.Little did I know it then, but he would become one of themost important people in my life.I took up my place at Derby Grammar with the usual prideand cockiness that comes with a new uniform and a Latin motto.Year on year, my interest in the events of 1745 grew anddeveloped, and in a school proud of its links to a fine city, therewas plenty of opportunity to indulge such interests. I rememberschool projects evaluating the strategic importance of the Trentbridge at Swarkestone, trips to that old Tudor schoolhouse –then, appropriately, a local heritage centre, although morerecently a hairdressers. It was on one such school trip that I wasintroduced, by the Richard Felix who would shortly becomefamous for his videos on the paranormal, to members of theCharles Edward Stuart Society, a motley crew of battle re-enactorswho paraded in the town each year. Although far too young tofight in their battles, I joined them with enthusiasm. AtAvoncroft Museum one summer, I donned the ill-fitting uniformof the Royal Eccossais, and began what has already been a longand varied life in the world of re-enactment. Proudly, I portrayedan English volunteer in the Jacobite army, before becoming anartilleryman on our infamous non-firing cannon. Then, early inthe new millennium, I made something of a leap: I was asked to8

A UTHOR’ S I NTRODUCTIONtake on the role of Charles Edward Stuart for the society and itsevents.Shortly after this, in the summer of 2003, I left the GrammarSchool and headed north, drawn by an irresistible force to therocky capital of Scotland. My time at the University ofEdinburgh was immensely fulfilling, and although I was studyingthe politics and literature of ancient Rome, I felt myselfbroadening in outlook. Exposed to the charms of a magnificentland I had never encountered beyond the stories I had read of the‘45, I soaked in as much of Scotland as possible, and I soon hadthree sweetie jars, containing the mud of Prestonpans, Falkirk,and Culloden. Although I had a passion for my Latin, my mindand my work have ever since brought me back to the ’45.And it brought me here, to the day I decided to write aboutthe man I had first written about in the dining room atSwanwick. Most people have heard of Charles Edward, but fewaccounts of his life are consistent. There seem to have been manyCharles Edwards, ranging from the dashing tartan hero of theshortbread tin, to the effeminate coward of comedians and satire.The reality is, of course, that the mists of time and the ferventpassions of partisans have clouded the truth and hidden this manfrom our eyes. As a character-actor as well as an historian, I havestriven to push those clouds aside, and I believe that I can nowsee that man.For many years now, I have been presenting Charles EdwardStuart to all kinds of audiences. Through me, he has visitedschools, historical societies, social clubs, and museums. I haveused charm and smiles, as Charles would have done, and I haveranted and raged as he would too. Like Charles, I haveexperienced both successes and failures. I have raised my standardby Loch Shiel, been piped into Holyrood Palace, and havedeclared King James at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh. I havebroken Cope’s lines at Prestonpans, and marched on foot intoDerby. Likewise, I have been dragged away from faltering battlelines, sensed the shame of defeat, and have pressed my rough9

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITtartan into the bracken, deep inside unwelcoming caves. Toexperience life in the lines, I have also dared the desperate chargeat Culloden, through biting sleet and winds, faced the charge ofHawley’s dragoons, worked cannons, and fallen to bayonets. Theresult is that I believe I know Charles Edward Stuart – confidentand brave, broken and unfulfilled – in all his moods and hismanifestations. I want others to know him also.It is difficult to explain the very personal nature of this study,and its importance to me. It is perhaps best expressed throughanother short story. It was late in 2007, and I was fresh fromuniversity and eager to find my place in a formidable world. Iworked in the museum in Derby, living with my parents in thehome we had moved into when I had left Friar Gate. I wasunsettled, itchy, and uncertain. Plotting, I took a week off work,and went to see a friend in York – another Old Derbeian. I wassupposedly spending half the week in York and half in Fife. Butbetween the two, in the greatest secrecy, I headed deep into thewestern highlands. On the one hand, I was researching for aproject which would become my first book, Rebellious Scots toCrush. In reality, however, I was really looking for advice, orrather inspiration. I struck out from a base in North Ballachulish,walking alone in Glencoe and Glenfinnan, chasing the Jacobitesas usual.Eventually, I pulled off the road alongside Loch nan Uamh –an unexpected manoeuvre, occasioned by a tiny roadside noticefor the Prince’s Cairn. Like countless others before me, I droppeddown the almost hidden path, to the spot from which Charlesleft Scotland forever. I scrambled over the rocks beyond, anddown to the waterfront. I washed my hands and face in the clearcold water, and sat on the ragged outcrop. The water seemed still;the silence was natural and soothing. As I sat and pondered myfuture, I spoke aloud. Beyond the barrier of centuries long past, Isought the advice of another man who had stood just here andwondered what his future would bring. Charles Edward made noanswer, but he did make my decision. I have lived in Scotland10

A UTHOR’ S I NTRODUCTIONever since, having moved to Edinburgh with neither work norlodgings, to throw myself on the mercy its people. This is when Irealised that Charles Edward Stuart is not to be found in thearchives of Windsor or the libraries of Scotland, but here on theground. He lives on in the land which he so trusted, which sowell protected him, and where, in the hardest times and againstall the odds, he felt at home for that one brief period in his longand deeply troubled life.This is my most ambitious project to date, and although it is ofgreat personal importance to me, I am a classicist by training andso I have attempted to make my work thorough and my methodsrigorous. What is presented, therefore, should be valued as areliable conclusion based upon a wide spectrum of primary andsecondary reading, a careful balance of authorial bias and motive,and the fluid nature of historiography.There is certainly no shortage of material covering the ’45, noris there a lack of biographies of Prince Charles. My intention is toprovide something a little different to what is already accessible. Ihave pored over a great many statements and opinions regardingthe Rising and its leader, and identified what I believe bestsummarises Charles’ complex personality. I am deeply indebtedto the work of many far more eminent scholars than myself, all ofwhom have contributed to my passion for the study even whenthey haven’t gained a formal reference here. Hopefully, thismodest effort will be able to contribute something to theunderstanding of the Rising even if it will never be asimmeasurably useful as a copy of Duffy’s The ’45, amongstothers.It is important to acknowledge that finding the real CharlesEdward is no easy task. The primary sources are exceptionallypartisan, and even within Jacobite texts there are wildlycontrasting versions of the same events. An easy example to11

A UTHOR’ S I NTRODUCTIONAs a re-enactor, I have experienced life in the first century, theseventeenth, and the eighteenth, as a rich man and a poor man, asoldier and a statesman. From shouting orders on a drill square,or repelling cavalry attacks to boarding tall ships or haulingcannon across battlefields, I am fortunate to have gained firsthandexperience of many of the hardships the Prince would alsohave been exposed to. Through the work I’ve been doing, I havebrought the Prince to audiences across Britain, from Borrodale toDerby, all the while developing a greater understanding andattachment to the personality I am assuming. There are alsomoments when I cannot put Charles aside, like when his tempermade the chandeliers shake during a talk in the midlands, orwhen I sulked for a day after reading comments by Elcho. Mydear friend Adam Watters, of the Alan Breck Stewart VolunteerRegiment despairs that he has to restrain me from leading thecharge in person. Such is the power of this long deceased Prince.All those I have worked with, or who have helped me in mymodest quest, are gratefully thanked.I must also here thank the Battle of Prestonpans (1745)Heritage Trust, with whom I have worked extensively since anaccidental meeting with their chairman whilst walking on thebattlefield collecting my thoughts. I am a passionate supporter oftheir intention to improve interpretation of their battle, and havedone what I can to assist them. That work has ranged fromwriting exhibitions to helping arrange the now annual reenactmentsthere. In return, the Trust has helped me enjoy someunforgettable experiences, from occupying Holyroodhouse tocapturing Cope’s baggage at Cockenzie. They honoured me bycommissioning and publishing my first book, Rebellious Scots toCrush, which summarises the literary legacy of the battle atPrestonpans, and they introduced me to the author Steven Lordwith whom the Trustees and I recently spent a delightful week inthe Highlands. The gentle sparring we had in front of the fire atBorrodale House gave me an added impetus for continuing withthis current project, which had been in my mind for some time.13

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITThe Trust also introduced me to Martin Margulies, anotherwriter on the period, who also happens to share my attachmentto ancient Rome. Since then, many messages and debatesregarding the Rising have crossed the Atlantic, not always inagreement but always in good humour. Most recently, the battletrust at Prestonpans has done me further honour by making mean executive trustee, and it is by their kindness that I can nowwork from a desk which looks across the Forth, with a pieceGardiner’s thorn tree mounted on the wall beside me.Alongside my analysis of Charles’ performance in the ’45, Ihave included three ‘special’ chapters, covering the capture ofEdinburgh and the battles of Prestonpans and Culloden. Thesechapters are intended to provide a contrast to the main body ofthe work, by offering a vivid and enlightening view into these keyevents. I could have chosen others (most notably, the battle ofFalkirk is missing, and I originally also planned to exploreDerby), but I really wanted to use my intimate knowledge of thebattlefield context at Prestonpans, and my passion for the city ofEdinburgh in which I live and work. Culloden is consideredbecause of its contrast to Prestonpans, and because it is importantto explore that battle more fully than this study would otherwisepermit. These chapters are written in a more narrative style, andshould express some of my passion for the period as well asmaking use of some of my experience on the re-enactmentbattlefield. Their major purpose is to provide a feeling for theatmosphere of the events which raised and broke both Charles’hopes and his spirits. Through seeing what he witnessed in detail,we can get a deeper understanding of the wider picture, and thusits effects on the participants.I have tried to analyse the Prince’s character from a distance,and impartially, but I am proud to say that I have probably failed.I have long believed that no history is unbiased, and no historianshould hope or pretend to be so. We must evaluate the evidence,decide what we believe, and then persuade others to believe italso. We are not therefore merely historians, but storytellers and14

A UTHOR’ S I NTRODUCTIONartists, and the advocates for those who can no longer reach us.As such, my presentation is undoubtedly as partisan as thememory of O’Sullivan or Murray. I am in no way blind to thefaults of the man I have spent so much time seeking, but I can seethem in the context of a human figure in a challenging world.Charles and I share one further similarity: when Charlescampaigned in Scotland, he was the same age as I am as I writethis study. It is an age of ambition and uncertainty, as I know aswell as any.The story of Charles Edward Stuart brings a tear to my eye atone moment, and fills me with fire the next. All said, I believe weshould share his journey, see into his mind, and emerge with anadmiration for an extraordinary individual, tinged with morethan a little sadness for his ultimate tragedy.15

AeneasIn 1734, the exiled Stuart king of Great Britain and OldChevalier, James III, sent his son on a mission to gain themilitary experience that would be needed if the boy was to oneday recover the family’s fortunes. It was the end of the boy’schildhood, and the beginning of a manhood that would propelhim into legend. The future King Carlos III of Spain wasbesieging a key Habsburg fortress between Rome and Naples,and Charles had joined them for the closing stages of theoperation. The town was Gaeta, known to the ancient Romans asCaieta:Yet more! Forever famed Caieta, by dying here,O nurse of Aeneas, on our shore you’ve left your name.Virgil, Aeneid, 7.1-2 1According to the ancient legend, Caieta was the nursemaid of theTrojan hero Aeneas. As the city of Troy burned behind him, thelast survivor of its royal house escaped by sea, and to a long exilein remote lands. Eventually, settling in central Italy, Aeneas andhis loyal followers fought a bloody war, overthrowing the rulingaristocracy and establishing a new royal dynasty. His bloodlineformed one of the greatest empires the world had ever seen: theRomans. Centuries later, the Roman emperor Augustus commissionedthe poet Virgil to compose an epic poem recalling thelegendary founding of their race. It was one of the finest works ofLatin literature, composed in what was considered to be a goldenage. Indeed, the literary Aeneas was intended as a mirror ofAugustus himself.In the eighteenth century, Aeneas became a metaphor once1 Translated from the Latin by the author.16

A ENEASagain. Somewhere, a people were dissatisfied. They longed for ahero, a man of royal blood who would sail across the seas from anenforced exile, and re-establish his house in a land he had neverseen. He would be young and inexperienced, counselled by a wisefather, supported by strong and loyal men. He would overcomeall obstacles and all odds, and his restoration would begin a newgolden age. These were the expectations which Charles EdwardStuart grew up with, and which he would strive to fulfil.Although few may have noticed the coincidence that Charles cuthis teeth at the siege of Caieta, named for the woman whonurtured Aeneas, people certainly compared the two heroes.Nor could the soft seducing charms,Of mild Hesperia’s blooming soil,E’er quench his noble thirst of arms,Of generous deeds and honest toil.Hamilton of Bangour, Ode to GladsmuirHamilton’s Ode is perhaps the finest Jacobite poem in English,written in the wake of Charles’ first battlefield victory. The clearlyclassical style, the reference to Hesperia – the ancient name forItaly – and the association of highland soldiers with rusticshepherds, all make a link with Latin literature of the golden age .It was a common theme in Jacobite propaganda before, during,and after the ’45, but it was also a lot for a young man to live upto. Charles Edward, however, knew what was being expected ofhim. He was acutely conscious of his exile, and felt the weight ofthe responsibility he was destined to bear. At the same time, heknew it was neither he nor his father that was to blame for theirunhappy state. A letter sent from Perth in September 1745reveals the depth of his understanding, and the level to which theStuarts were at the mercy of their own history:17

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITThey will no doubt endeavour to revive all the errors andexcesses of my grandfather’s unhappy reign, 2 and impute themto your Majesty and me, who had no hand in them, andsuffered most by them... What have these princes to answer for,who by their cruelties have raised enemies not only tothemselves but to their innocent children?Charles Edward StuartThe new Aeneas was the son of King James III of Great Britain &VIII of Scotland, the Old Pretender to his enemies, and was bornto him in Rome at the end of 1720. The war which would makehim famous was the final act in a conflict that began over ahundred years before it. Charles knew the story intimately, as didthose who would sit before their fires in Britain as they searchedtheir souls to decide whether to support him. Their decisions wereoften as rooted in the previous century as in the present, and sothat context needs consideration here, however brief it must be.Long before the birth of the legendary Bonnie Prince Charlie,another Charles – King Charles I – had been born in the ancientroyal palace of Dunfermline, austere and dislocated from power,and a relic of a former world. Charles was soon moved toLondon, where his complex and fascinating father was learningto control two kingdoms from one city. Charles was anunfortunate child, apparently unhappy and largely overlookedbefore the death of his elder brother; he grew up to be introvertedand formal, devout and sincere. King James I & VI had sufferedan even more troubled youth, but it had given him one bigadvantage over his son and successor: he had learned the mind ofthe Scots. Charles, too young and overshadowed to have takenmuch in at Dunfermline, had avoided returning to his secondkingdom until his coronation as King of Scots in 1633. 3 Thestrict formality of his English court and the king’s aloof personal2 King James II of Great Britain & VII of Scots (1633-1701).3 He had been crowned in Westminster in 1626, but delayed his Scottishceremony.18

A ENEASpresentation were at odds with the forthright approach oftraditional Scots politics. In return to the offence many Scotsnobles took from his attitude, Charles I left Edinburgh believinghis northern lands to be rude and uncouth. The distance theseand similar misunderstandings placed between the king and hisScots subjects weighed heavily against him when the politicsbecame rough.In the end, manners mattered little when it came to religion.The king’s attempt to introduce a new liturgy, as part of anoverall policy of anglicising the Scots church, changed Britainforever. Although it was composed by Scots, under advice fromthe controversial Archbishop Laud of Canterbury, the PrayerBook was fundamentally at odds with the Presbyterian practice ofthe kirk, which in turn clashed with the king’s desire for aformalised, standardised and unified Protestant church in Britain.Upon its first reading in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh went wildand the National Covenant was composed. The ensuing chaosled to the complete collapse of the king’s authority in Scotland,and soon there was a Scots army invading England – technicallyto rescue the king from his wicked advisors. Recalling Parliamentto authorise funding for the war, Charles unhappily unleashed abacklash against his long rule without consultation to that body,which culminated in the outbreak of civil war in England in1642. The Scots Covenanters, finding common ground with thepuritans in the London Parliament, and led on by promises of aPresbyterian church in England, turned the tide of the wardecisively against the king.Scotland suffered heavily during this period. The Marquess ofMontrose, James Graham, led a lightning campaign across thehighlands in 1644-5 and scored a string of major victories in theking’s name. Clad in tartan trews and highland dress, the militarymarquess struck an image not a million miles distant to a figureto follow him a hundred years later. The Covenanter armyfighting in England was weakened to save the government inEdinburgh, and Montrose was finally defeated. His war, however,19

VALOUR DOES NOT WAIThad been waged without mercy on both sides, and the cost to thenation was immense. The king’s cause collapsed in England andhe surrendered to the Scots army, but he steadfastly refused toamend his religious views and was handed to theParliamentarians. Many Scots now rediscovered their attachmentto their ancient royal house, and the King’s treatment frustratedthem. Eventually, as it became clear that there would never be anextension of Presbyterianism to England, a Royalist factiongained the upper hand in Scottish politics and an Engagementwas agreed with Charles. A Scots army under the inadequateDuke of Hamilton marched south to rescue the king from hisenemies. The Engagers were, however, hopelessly defeated atPreston in 1648. 4 Within a year, King Charles was put on trialfor treason and sentenced to death, without the Scots even beingconsulted. On January 30th 1649, a date ever after to be dreadedby Stuarts, the anointed king was killed. Execution, assassination,murder, martyrdom: all terms which have been used to describeone of the darkest and most influential events in British history.Almost immediately, Charles II was declared King of Scotstwould not be until 1660 after years of war and exile, after aRoyalist invasion of England and a Commonwealth invasion ofScotland, that there was a reigning king again.The Restoration did not restore Scotland’s fortunes, nor patchup its relationship with the monarchy. Warfare had been virtuallyconstant since 1638, plague and famine never far from its heels,and the economy was as tattered as the political fabric of theland. Worse, the Presbyterian powers in the 1650s haddetermined to make the young Charles II more amenable – andPresbyterian – than his father. Whilst he had tolerated andendured their machinations and educations because it was hisonly hope of restoration, their efforts in every sense had failed.4 Preston was an unhappy place for Stuart supporters. They suffered defeatthere again in 1715, and in 1745 the Jacobites hesitated at crossing theriver which had seen so many of their ancestors defeated.20

A ENEASUltimately, it was the Commonwealth’s muscleman in Scotland,General Monck, who restored Charles to his subjects. Those whohad once attempted to force Charles’ hand now faced his anger,and the suppression of the Covenant was severe. The head of theMarquess of Argyll soon sat on the spike on which theCovenanters had placed Montrose’s.Having failed to produce a legitimate heir, Charles II passedthe throne to his capable but flawed brother James. HisCatholicism, and refusal to compromise on it, brought him intoconflict with the majority of his people. The killing timescontinued in Scotland, suppressing extremist Presbyterianism.Eventually, however, it was the fear that James II would educatehis son as a Catholic that drove the English Parliament to expelhim. War returned to Britain, although the battles ofKilliecrankie and Dunkeld (1689) in Scotland and the Boyne(1690) in Ireland failed to return James to the crown. A newmonarchy was installed, safely Protestant and securely indebtedto Parliament for its power, and although James’ daughter Annereceived the crown in 1702, her Stuart family were overlooked atthe succession. The electors of Hanover were invited in (the newKing George I was married to Sophia, a granddaughter of James Iof Great Britain).James II’s bloodline, meanwhile, continued in exile on thecontinent. His son, known to his supporters as James III & VIII,continued with his father’s Catholicism and eventually settled hiscourt in Rome. In 1715, he landed in Scotland in the hope ofleading a Jacobite uprising to victory. Under the ineffectivecommand of the ‘Bobbing’ John Erskine, Earl of Mar, the ’15shuddered to failure at the inconclusive battle of Sheriffmuir, andJames returned to exile. Five years later, in a palace provided bythe Pope, James’ wife gave birth to Charles Edward.That Charles felt all this family history keenly is obvious. Thefortunes and fates of his ancestors affected his outlook and hispolitics. The lessons of his grandfather especially, but also hisfather, certainly influenced Charles’ attitude to religion, for21

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITexample. However, this consciousness also manifests itself in avery personal way. A small example is the fact that when inScotland, Charles carried a snuff box mounted with a silverportrait of King Charles I, the Royal Martyr. Perhaps it was fromfamily loyalty, perhaps from identification with a king who ledhis armies in battle with distinction and met death with coolnobility. Whatever the reason, it was obviously a point which wasknown to those around him, hence Elcho’s ominous observation:They [Charles’ advisors] were careful to remind him of their[the Scots’] bad behaviour towards King Charles First.Colonel David Wemyss, Lord Elcho 5Charles therefore clearly knew where he came from and, withtime working against the exiled court, how important it was thata trigger was found for action. Accordingly, the new Aeneaswould need training for war, and an education which wouldequip him for kingship.Unfortunately, the family, palace and world into whichCharles Edward was born created a bewildering and uncertainenvironment which would affect his character deeply. Charleswas born in the Palazzo Muti, granted to his father by PopeClement XI in 1719, on the Piazza dei Santi Apostoli in the heartof Rome, just paces from the ancient forum. After the death ofhis father, Charles would return here as the new King Across theWater. The family was loving, but unstable. James ran a busy andactive exiled court to and from which messages and informationtravelled the lengths of Europe. It is difficult to dislike James,who comes across as a kindly man with a noble countenance andan intelligent mind. Sadly, however, he could not compromise on5 Wemyss (2003): 114. The snipes are attributed to the Prince’s Irish advisorsin the period after Culloden. The snuff box referred to can be seen in BlairCastle, amongst a very fine collection of Jacobite relics. Unless otherwisestate, all quotations from this source are the words of Lord Elcho himself.22

A ENEAShis faith and this proved a fundamental barrier to his restorationplans. Worn down by constant disappointment, failure andbetrayal, Old Mr Melancholy was the cause’s intellectual headbut now lacked the dynamism and energy which was needed tocarry the Stuarts back to St James’ Palace. Nevertheless, he was adevoted father and cared deeply for his two boys, just as he felt aclear responsibility towards those who had sacrificed everythingfor his name and lived in exile alongside him.The court of the king was not a palace of happy families.James had secured a fine match in 1719 when he married, byproxy, the Polish princess Clementina Sobieski. Not only did shebring much needed wealth into the Muti, she was also attractive,young and charming, and capable of bearing the king sons.Importantly, she carried in her veins the martial blood of hergrandfather, John III Sobieski of Poland. John was a hero of theChristian world, who had led an allied army to spectacularvictory at Vienna in 1683 which crushed the hopes of theOttoman Empire. The mix of such blood with that of the Stuartswould surely stand Charles in good stead. Regrettably,Clementina’s Catholic faith was fanatical, whilst James kept herout of his state business. Although the couple clearly loved oneanother and both were faithful, the fragile peace of the courthabitually erupted with fiery arguments.Charles’ mother was a tragically fragile character, and shereacted to her isolation from her family and homeland as well asher exclusion from the king’s business, by throwing herself whollyat the Church. When Charles was born on New Year’s Eve 1720,there was a great crowd present in her chamber including largenumbers of cardinals. It was a deliberate act on James’ part: therewere once rumours he had been smuggled into his mother’s roomin a bedpan, and he wanted no such doubts to surround his ownson’s legitimacy. In this intimidating and intrusive atmosphere,perhaps Clementina took some comfort from the Pope’s arrival tobless the child, and the linen he sent to clothe him. The parentsargued over the Prince’s education, the staff employed to oversee23

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITit, and the queen’s role in the court. James was clearly the wiser ininsisting that Protestants were equally accessible to Charles asCatholics. With both parents being proud, stubborn anddepressive, tempers broke frequently and indiscreetly. Themarriage became a source of gossip and scandal, in whichClementina was more often seen as the victim than was fair.Furthermore, as she became known through Rome for herexceptional piety and saintly devotion to the Church, sheprovided valuable propaganda for the court in London. Worse, itwas destroying her body. She fasted, and much as the king triedto intervene Clementina’s health was visibly in decline. InJanuary 1735, at only thirty-two, Maria Clementina Sobieski wasburied in St Peter’s Basilica. Charles was deeply distressed by theevent, and the sense of loss can only have been magnified by themassive funeral event which moved all Rome. Although he hadnever been particularly close to his mother, the two were verysimilar in nature: he had her fire, charm, and temper, but also heremotional fragility and sense of isolation. Her obsession with theChurch warned Charles off religion as much as his family historyhad, and her instability made him wary of relationships. All thisremained to be seen, as the boy of fifteen mourned the loss of amother the city had proclaimed a virtual saint.Despite the problems of his parent’s marriage, Charles’schildhood should be considered as unstable rather than unhappy.The arguments, the temper, the emotional insecurity andtendency to depression would all return to haunt him, but theywere not his entire world. There were tender moments too, withboth parents. The year before she died, Clementina took acarriage out to meet Charles as he returned from Gaeta, takingthe young Henry with her. We can only imagine the worry shehad endured in his absence. James was a loving father, callingCharles by the affectionate diminutive Carluccio, andendeavouring to advise his son long after the bitter failure of the‘45. It is easy to see a father’s pride in the exiled king’s receptionof the young David Wemyss in 1740:24

A ENEASHe now rang a small bell and the princes came in from thenext room. I kissed hands and called them ‘Your Highness’, justas I had called their father ‘Your Majesty’. The Chevalier mademe stand back to back with the elder, Prince Charles, who wasa year older than I and much taller. 6Lord ElchoIn the strange environment of the Muti, Charles seems to havegrown up quickly. He was not an easy child to govern, with hisindependent spirit and his tantrums, but he quickly became thedarling of Roman society. Henry, five years his junior, was neverfar behind and the boys seem to have been close. The Londongovernment was keen from the moment of Charles’ birth tospread false reports of his incapacity and disabilities, but theevidence of those who encountered the boys gives a very clearimage of their steady progress.James tried to make sure that Italy stopped at the Muti door,and he wrote and spoke to the boys in English. WithEnglishmen, Irishmen, and Scotsmen around him all the time,Charles grew comfortable with British fashions and manners, aswell as the language. This is something which is often forgottenor unspoken, but it is important. It is certainly a mistake tobelieve that by growing up in Italy, Charles could not communicateeffectively whilst in Scotland, or that he seemedsomehow alien to his supporters. Nor was Charles stupid. WhenElcho reported that Charles, ‘was very ignorant of what washappening in the United Kingdom,’ he was considering theintimacies of social politics, with which Elcho was more intimate,having for a long time found himself with a foot in each camp.Charles could hardly have been familiar with life on the groundin Britain, but the Muti had extensive communications contacts.6 The warmth of the reception he received at the Muti whilst passingthrough on the grand tour drew Elcho irretrievably into Jacobite circles. Hewould, it seems, come to resent his youthful enthusiasm.25

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITThat said, Elcho was certainly not impressed with the Prince’seducation. He spent a winter in Rome in 1740, during which hewas well courted by the Jacobites, and he is a valuable witness:The Duke of York [Henry] has far better manners and is morepopular. Lord Dunbar is a man of the world and should havebeen able to give him [Charles] a better education, which he isaccused of neglecting; Sir Thomas Sheridan is an ardent Papistwith no knowledge of how England is governed, and who holdsthe loftiest notions about the divine right of kings and absolutepower.Lord ElchoIt is possible that Elcho’s recollections are being coloured by hislater animosity to Charles, or perhaps he was just misreadingwhat he saw. Dunbar (James Murray) was the Prince’s governor,and whilst the Catholic Sheridan was under-governor, the formerwas certainly Protestant, so we should not be misguided byElcho’s comment. Charles may very much have believed in thedivine nature of kingly authority, but the practical application ofit that he promised in the ’45 does not comply with Elcho’sexpression here. If his brother was the more popular, then it iseasy to understand why Charles was so driven in his youth, andso eager to find his own independent identity. As for his ownpopularity popularity, Charles’s magnificent tour of northernItaly in 1737 was an immense success and the Prince’s charm,stamina, and comeliness drew unrivalled admiration. He may nothave been an academic nor as bookish as his brother, but he hadclearly learned some winning ways.It is not denied that Charles neglected his studies, but that isto overlook, amongst other things, the fact that he wasconversing freely in English, French, and Italian. Nevertheless,his spelling would never greatly improve despite his father’s hopethat, ‘a little custom and application will soon make you write well,both for spelling and sense.’ This, however, is not unusual in the26

A ENEASeighteenth century, a time before standardisation of both spellingand grammar and when understanding was the only realrequirement of a communication. The Prince’s spelling comparesvery favourably to O’Sullivan’s, for example. The important pointis that Charles was not neglecting his studies out of idleness orlack of intelligence. He just had other concerns.The young Elcho remarked that, ‘Prince Charles did not havemuch to say to those who came to pay him court, and would spend allhis time shooting blackbirds and thrushes, or playing the Scottishgame of golf,’ and another eye-witness noticed that, ‘he had anovermastering passion for the profession of arms.’ This, then, is whyCharles was not focussed on his books, and had no, ‘other interestsbut shooting and music’: he knew he was Aeneas. As Charles gotolder, he would spend more and more time out of the palazzo,and more time up in the hills around Rome. He was hunting,shooting, and training. He was toughening himself up, preparinghis body for the trials of a military campaign. He would leavebefore most of the household was awake, and when he returned,late in the night, he would relax by playing his cello or violin. Hewas soon known as a remarkable shot. His stamina was impressive:even when not out all day shooting, he would be paradingaround the dances, balls, and galas of society. The hours werelong, but these were routines he had been accustomed to from anearly age. There are, however, lessons that cannot be learnedwhilst shooting thrushes. Thrushes, for example, don’t fire back.Charles needed formal military experience, and theopportunity came when he was just fourteen years old. The Warof the Polish Succession had drawn international superpowersinto a Europe-wide contest, each eager to exploit the distractionsof the other. In Italy, the Austrian controlled fortress of Gaeta wasunder siege by the army of Don Carlos of Spain. Joining theFranco-Spanish army was James Frances Fitz-James Stuart, Dukeof Berwick, whose name exposes his descent from King James II.His father had just been killed fighting in the Rhineland, andKing James took the opportunity to send a message of comfort to27

VALOUR DOES NOT WAIThis relation, whilst giving Charles exactly the sort of experiencehe needed. Charles left Rome on 30th July 1734 for his first tasteof war, and he relished it.Gaeta was an impressively fortified ancient town, lyingbetween Rome and Naples, and sited on a defensible promontory.It had seen many sieges before, and this would not be thelast. 7 The garrison, heavily outnumbered, had held out stubbornlyfor nearly four months, but the war had been lost andwon elsewhere and the siege’s outcome was in little doubt. It isimportant to consider the behaviour of the Prince during theseexperiences, and we are fortunate to have the reactions ofBerwick himself to inform us. Charles, made an honorary generalof artillery upon his arrival – which thankfully came with ahandsome wage – took his duties seriously. He worked in thetrenches which extended towards the walls, providing cover forthe soldiers preparing for an assault, and he showed courage andcool-headedness beyond the expectations of his age. On oneoccasion, a battery opened fire upon a farmhouse Berwick wasusing as a headquarters, and he was obliged to remove himself.Charles returned from the trenches and, in a no doubt deliberatedisplay of contempt for danger, insisted on returning into theshattered property:I must confess that he made me pass some uneasy moments...He showed not the least concern for the enemy’s fire, even whenthe balls were hissing about his ears... He stayed in it [thehouse] a very considerable time with an undisturbedcountenance, though the walls had been pierced through withthe cannon balls. In a word, this discovers that in great Princeswhom nature has marked out for heroes, valour does not waitfor number of years.James Fitz-James Stuart, 2nd Duke of Berwick7 There is still an important military base in the town, alongside the residuesof its former military significance.28

A ENEASThis letter alone should silence those who have, on occasion,doubted Charles’ personal bravery. It is an extraordinary tributeto a boy of fourteen, and is supported by the Prince’s behaviourthroughout his later military trials. Furthermore, Charles hadbeen actively learning from the siege, observing the conventionsof eighteenth century warfare and soaking in anything that mightone day be of use to him in his greater mission. His conductbrought fresh admiration, and added to the frustration of theestablishment in London who were following his progress withapprehension.They were right to do so. Charles’ life was building towards itsgoal. He was preparing himself physically, had determinedly andsuccessfully set about seducing the courts of Italy, and he wasmaturing into a strong, single-minded Prince who knew thesignificance of his duty and the effort needed to succeed. AllCharles now wanted was the opportunity to strike. Would such achance ever come, when Britain was eager for change, at the samemoment that the European powers were keen to support regimechange? No trigger had been found since the failure at GlenShiel, when Spain’s frustrations had led them to support theStuarts, and the best chance had been lost in the ’15 even beforethat. Although Jacobitism was still a potent force, time was noton its side, and it would take an immense effort to revive loyaltyto the cause across the whole of Britain. All this Charles knew,and the whole network of Jacobites – at home and in exile –knew it also. Every opportunity had to be taken, since in theyoung Charles the cause had something it had previously lacked:charismatic leadership.Charles’ opportunity was coming. In 1738, Captain RobertJenkins of the brig Rebecca presented his severed ear (no doubtmuch grizzled) to the House of Commons. It had been cut offseveral years before after his ship had been boarded by Spaniards,and alongside evidence of other Spanish provocation this eventprovided the pretext for a British declaration of war on Spain.The great Latin empire had supported King James before;29

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITperhaps they would do so again. In 1739, the Duke of Ormondeand the Earl Marischal, powerful and capable Jacobite exiles,rushed to Spain to negotiate support for a new Jacobite rebellion.Hopes were high, but quickly dashed. Spain would not providethe Stuarts with the necessary military assistance, as its attentionwas firmly on the Americas. Nevertheless, the War of Jenkins’ Earwas causing widespread discontent in Britain, eventually leadingto the downfall of its first prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole.War with Spain was, however, soon overshadowed by the spectreof a war far more dreadful, and immediate. The War of theAustrian Succession: total war on a global scale.In 1740, the death of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI,drew central Europe into a war which would last for eight longyears. Maria Theresa, the emperor’s heir, provided the Habsburgdynasty’s enemies with their pretext for war, and they assertedSalic Law which prevented a female inheritance. Prussia, Franceand Spain were amongst those states that lined up against MariaTheresa, and Britain’s links with Hanover therefore drew it intoopposition to France, as well as Spain. Although Britain had notyet entered the war, it was only a matter of time before George IIwas drawn to action in his capacity as Elector of Hanover. AnAnglo-Spanish war may not be enough to trigger a Jacobiterebellion, but a war that pitted Britain against both Spain andFrance, played for the very highest stakes on a massive scale, mustsurely provide the ripest opportunity the Muti court couldenvisage. The Jacobite world, already on the alert over theSpanish war, now awoke to the real possibility that somethingmight actually happen. It was time to make ready.Whilst the Stuarts’ best hopes on the continent lay withFrance, in Britain they rested on Scotland. Along with Ireland,that nation had provided the most active and long-standingcommitment to the cause, and was also possessed of severalstrategically important advantages. The first was the relativeremoteness of its highlands, providing a chance for any internalrebellion to gather some momentum before interception. The30

A ENEASsecond, and perhaps most significant, was the fact the Scottishhighlanders were the most warlike of the British peoples, with atradition of bearing arms that had largely become dormant in, forexample, much of England. Combined with the large number ofScots and Irish serving in foreign armies, the prominence ofEpiscopalian worship (notably in the east), and the simmeringresentment still lingering after the Act of Union (1707), Scotlandwas clearly the best landing stage for any proposed rebellion.Nevertheless, Jacobite contacts were nationwide, and sympathyfor the exiled dynasty could be found across Wales and Englandtoo. The task was to transfer genteel toasts to the King Across theWater into active military and political succour. To that end,King James’ network began to heave with activity.Perhaps sensing the moment was drawing near, JamesDrummond, the staunchly Jacobite and eminently likeable Dukeof Perth, presented Prince Charles with a highland targe. A roundshield of 19 inches diameter, covered in pigskin and backed withleopard, the magnificent object was adorned with silverdecorations of battle standards, fasces, 8 broadswords and pistols.In its centre, a formidable Medusa gripping in her gnarling teetha ferocious spike. It is a weapon designed to represent theauthority of the bearer, whilst the gorgon petrified his enemies.Charles, receiving the weapon in 1740, was a young man morethan ever aware of his responsibility as the military saviour of thecause. And it would be the highlands that provided the means forhim to achieve it. 98 The ancient symbols of authority, the fasces were a bundle of rods boundupon an axe carried ahead of the magistrates and politicians of the ancientRoman Republic. They symbolised the power of the individual behindthem to forcibly move people from their path, and the number of slavesbearing the fasces reflected the status of the magistrate. Revived as symbolsby Mussolini, they gave their name to the fascists.9 The targe was lost by Charles during the escape from Culloden, along withmost of his personal baggage. It was rescued by Cluny of Macpherson, andcan now be seen in the National Museum of Scotland.31

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITMore practically, potential supporters of a rising werebeginning to band together and express themselves. Associationsbegan to be formed, the most notable being that which included:the Duke of Perth and his uncle Lord John Drummond; the Earlof Traquair and his brother; Sir John Campbell of Auchenbreck;Cameron of Lochiel, de facto chief; and Simon Fraser, LordLovat. They were a mixed band, some of whom would prove farmore useful than others, and they were stirred into movement in1740 by contact from the continent. John Murray of Broughton,an able man who ruined his reputation by turning King’sEvidence when the ’45 collapsed, was also becoming highlyactive, whilst the young and well-connected Lord Elcho wasbeing drawn ever deeper into the plots. If his narrative is to bebelieved, however, he was simply being naive. At the samemoment, the irrepressible Gordon of Glenbucket was insisting toKing James that 20,000 men could rally to his standard as soonas they were armed, but the king was too sensible to be sweptalong. Messengers criss-crossed Europe, initially promising aFrench invasion in 1742/3, although this failed to materialiseafter the death of Cardinal Fleury, and French ministers deniedhaving ever entertained the plan.Nevertheless, the wheels were now turning and the overallsituation in Europe was moving in favour of King James. TheFrench had suffered a strategic reverse in the war with Austria,and their position was significantly less promising than it hadonce appeared. British forces had landed on the continent in July1742, and despite there being no formal war declared betweenBritain and France, King George had won an impressive victoryover the French at Dettingen within a year. If the British couldturn the tide of the war in Europe, then France would providethem with a distraction elsewhere: the Jacobites. As 1743 drew toa close, the French invited Charles to Paris, and the young princecame with all the authority he needed.32

A ENEASJames R.Whereas We have a near Prospect of being restored to theThrone of our Ancestors, by the good Inclinations of ourSubjects towards Us, and whereas, on account of the presentSituation of this Country, it will be absolutely impossible forUs to be in Person at the first setting up of Our RoyalStandard, and even sometime after, We therefore esteem it forOur Service, and the Good of Our Kingdoms and Dominionsto nominate and appoint, Our dearest Son, CHARLES, Princeof Wales, to be sole Regent of Our Kingdoms of England,Scotland, and Ireland, and of all other Our Dominions,during Our Absence.23rd December 1743 in the 43rd Year of Our Reign, J RKing James’ Commission for Prince CharlesAeneas left Rome in a suitably adventurous manner. The Princewas accustomed to sleeping in a chair fully clothed, ready to headoff for the hunt at one or two in the morning, and so there wasnothing remarkable about the day he announced that he wasleaving for a shooting trip in Cisterna ahead of his brotherHenry. Few had been present to witness the moment he partedcompany with the King:Charles:King James:I go, sire, in search of three crowns, which Idoubt not but to have the honour and happinessof laying at Your Majesty’s feet. If I fail in theattempt, your next sight of me shall be in acoffin.Heaven forbid that all the crowns in the worldshould rob me of my son. Be careful of yourself,my dear prince, for my sake and, I hope, for thesake of millions. 1010 Marshall (1988): 51.33

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITCoffin or otherwise, the king would never see his belovedCarluccio again. This tender farewell was the beginning of thegreat adventure that would define Charles’ life. When Henryreached the rendezvous, he was told that his brother had beendelayed by a riding accident, but in reality he had begun a raceacross Europe. He defied the spies of his enemies, slipped past theRoyal Navy to land at Antibes, and crossed France in anastonishingly rapid five days. The preparations in Italy had stoodup to the first test, and Charles wrote with some amusement thathis travelling companions were, ‘quite rendu,’ and had scarcelykept pace with him.The excitement was tangible. After a lifetime of waiting andtraining, the opportunity had come at last. Scarce had theadventure begun, however, when Charles was met with his firstdisappointment. King Louis was clearly caught off guard by hisarrival. The French plan had been for a large scale invasion ofsouthern England to be led by Ormonde and the esteemedgeneral Marshal Saxe, whilst the Earl Marischal led a diversionarylanding in Scotland. Charles’ presence, with the manifestoswritten in the king’s name, would make the expedition look morelike liberation than invasion. Charles’ rapid descent on Paris,however, quickly identified that he was unlikely to tolerate beinga mere figurehead. After a lukewarm reception at the Frenchcourt, Charles was obliged to remain incognito. He was soon tohave so many aliases that even he must have struggled torecognise his true self. When he moved to Gravelines to join withthe gathering invasion force, he was Baron Douglas, and theadventure seemed back on track as he moved amongst thecommon soldiery whilst his anticipation mounted.Unfortunately, more disappointment was to follow. Theinvasion fleet was scattered by a terrible storm, and although theofficial outbreak of war between France and Britain should havehelped Charles, it simply meant that French attention shifted toFlanders and Saxe went off without even the courtesy of tellingthe Prince. It was March 1744, and Charles was already insisting34

A ENEAShe would be better off alone than with friends like the French.He was not being unrealistic, for as much as a rising would needarms, money, and military professionals, the European contextmeant that anti-French feeling in Britain largely outweighed anylingering Jacobite sympathies. Aware of his lack of militaryexperience, Charles was eager to join the French army in Flandersbut this would have played into the hands of his domesticenemies, and his youthful militarism was appropriately deflectedby, among others, the Earl Marischal. Besides, by the timeCharles returned to Paris, Louis had already gone to war withouthim. Frustrated at every turn, the Prince flouted his incognito,even sitting cheekily close to the queen of France herself during aball and drawing her attention. It was deliberate provocation, aretaliation against the poor treatment he had received from Louis.He moved to Fitz-James, belonging to the relations who hadtaken him to Gaeta, and struck up a warm friendship with hisother relatives, the du Bouillons. As he spent increasing amountsof time with the family, perhaps he caught the eye of his cousin,Louise de la Tour. She had once been recommended as apotential wife for the Prince, but James had rejected the idea andshe had instead married into powerful French connections.Whatever they thought of one another in early 1745, 11 theycould hardly have expected what the future held for them.As the King of France mused over how to rid himself of thenuisance that he had unwittingly brought into his sphere – Louiswas probably conscious his behaviour had lacked courtesy –Charles plotted how to kick-start the grand adventure withouthim. Within his small court there was certainly no lack ofactivity. Murray of Broughton cast caution to the wind and,forgetting the Associators’ conditions, had become swept up inthe enthusiasm and persuaded Charles that Scotland would rise.11 Possibly not too much, as Louise had just become pregnant for the firsttime and Charles was busy focussed on his more important tasks. Hecertainly did, however, take great comfort in the friendly familyatmosphere.35

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITTo provide some military expertise, John William O’Sullivan hadbeen put in charge of the Prince’s household, where he could alsodemonstrate his skills as an organiser. A loan of 180,000 livreswas secured to purchase weapons, and ships were sought toprovide transport and protection. O’Sullivan soon sensed, ‘therewas something abrewing,’ and was at last let in on the secretplanning. He quickly procured, ‘1800 sabres, such as are fit for thehighlanders, several cases of Pistols, an Armor, Bed, & set of pleat forthe Prince’. 12 On the 5th July 1745, with the exiled Prince ofWales disguised as a divinity student from the Scots College inParis, the adventure began, and the expedition set sail.Aeneas was on the move at last, and soon had a chance toprove his warrior’s mettle. When the Prince’s ship and its escort,the Elisabeth, were intercepted by a British man of war, a seabattle ensued. For hour after hour, the two ships pounded eachother with cannon fire until both the Elisabeth and the BritishLyon were crippled. Throughout the engagement, Charleswatched from the small frigate Du Teillay, and O’Sullivan wasimpressed by, ‘the ardeur the Prince shewed on yt occasion; he’dobsolutly have a share in the fight.’ Although the expeditionaryforce had held its own, Captain D’O and most of the Elisabeth’sofficers were dead and the ship was unable to proceed further.Distressingly for the cause, it returned to France with most ofCharles’ supplies. Undeterred, the Prince pressed on and finallylanded in Scotland on 23rd July. The legendary Seven Men ofMoidart (undoubtedly there were more) were all Charles had torestore his father’s fortunes.The enterprise was bold, nay rash, and unexampled.Captain James Johnstone12 O’Sullivan (1938): 46-7. For Armor, read armoire (a travelling chest), andfor pleat, plate.36

A ENEASUnexampled it certainly was. The Rising was starting cold,without the necessary supplies let alone troops. Was Charlescompletely mad? There was a fine line between determinationand boldness, and the reckless rashness often attributed to thePrince. For Charles, however, this was simply the dynamism thecause so badly needed. Certainly the reception the expeditionaryforce received when it arrived was less than reassuring, and therewas a desperate rush by individuals to either distance themselvesfrom a rising that looked certain to fail, or to persuade Charles toawait a more favourable opportunity. He was, however,determined to hazard everything in the current enterprise.Elcho makes much of Charles’ assumption that Britain wasripe for rebellion: ‘he had been persuaded... the house of Hanoverwas detested and that the whole country would rally to his standardon his appearance.’ This is to misunderstand his mind. CertainlyCharles had faith that once the Rising was in motion itsmomentum would gather immense support and in time becomea national movement. At the same moment, he was also keenlyaware that this was his best opportunity to achieve something.He and his father had waited long enough. The memory of KingLouis’ cool reception was still fresh in his mind. Each year thatpassed weakened Charles’ hand in Europe and strengthened theHanoverian dynasty’s hold in Britain. Besides, he was not sonaive as to believe he could overwhelm the military might of theyoung British Empire, something that was never really hisintention. Instead, he was affecting regime change, with thesupport of a liberal manifesto and an unshakeable determinationto fulfil his destiny. As such, the expedition should be seen asbold indeed, but reasoned, balanced against the reality that thismight be the Stuarts’ last chance. France was a false friend, andonly those who had proven their loyalty in the past could now berelied upon. As such, Charles was not just being hopelesslyromantic when, on being told to go home by Boisdale, heparried:37

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITI am come home, sir, and I will entertain no notion at all ofreturning to that place from whence I came; for that I ampersuaded my faithful highlanders will stand by me.Charles Edward StuartThe statement was early evidence of the Prince’s most formidableweapon: his own character. From the outset, Charles set aboutwinning over his reluctant supporters and binding them to out ofloyalty not just to the cause, but to himself. That he earned thatloyalty, from hard-headed and powerful men, is proof positive ofboth his skill and his charm. This was no foppish Italian prince;it was a man who came meaning business and who promised toshare in the risks.On 19th August 1745, one of the most inspiring andsignificant dates in Scottish history, Charles moved up the greatlength of Loch Shiel, still in disguise, with a small flotilla ofClanranald bodyguards. During the halt at Dalilea, the RoyalStandard had been given its finishing touches, patched togetheras it was from whatever had been available on the Du Teillay. Themessages had been dispatched, the preliminary interviews anddebates concluded. All that remained was to see whether thegamble had paid off. He stepped up to the prow of the long boatas the rendezvous came into sight. As the boats beached gently,he stepped onto the shingle and crossed the small rivulet that fedthe loch. The young adventurer’s heart thumped hard, and hestruggled to suppress his nerves at the lack of a reception. Soonsmall numbers of people had gathered about here and there,curious locals mildly interested in the unusual activity. After ananxious eternity scanning the empty horizon, Charles moved intothe shade of a low bothy, perhaps to hide his nerves from thoseabout him. As morning passed into noon, at last the longed-foractivity occurred. The distant sound might have come fromwithin his mind, he thought, until it became clearer and morecertain. He stepped out, as those men stationed on a nearbyeminence carried the message along the vale. In regular columns,38

A ENEASand in reassuring numbers, the men of Clan Cameron marchedbeneath the strains of their pipers. Relief gave way to joy: ifLochiel would come, then the whole west would surely follow.Ageing but loyal, the Marquess of Tullibardine, Jacobite Dukeof Atholl, raised the Standard, and the Prince’s commission ofregency was read along with his political manifestos. Thegathering army gave out a great huzzah, and Charles stoodforward. ‘He was in the prime of youth, tall and handsome, and of afair complexion,’ 13 and cut a fine figure as he acknowledged thecheers. He made a short, stirring speech before he, ‘ordred yt somekasks of brandy shou’d be deliver’d to the men, to drink the Kingshealth’. After several days, as the clans were consolidated into themakings of an army, and when the available munitions and armshad been distributed, the campaign began. First blood hadalready gone to the Jacobites, who had ambushed a company ofRoyal Scots at High Bridge. Now the war must begin in earnest.The gamble had paid off indeed, and Charles was now incommand of about 1,200 men. The initiative lay with him.Prisoners present at Glenfinnan were dispatched to report on thesuccess of the gathering, and the quality of the Prince. Havinginitially dismissed reports of the Prince’s landing, theGovernment was awakening too late to the reality of the threat.With their main forces, including much of the new Black Watchregiment, tied up in Flanders, the highland garrisons were tooweak to respond effectively. If Charles was to be stopped, itwould have to be John Cope who stopped him. An experiencedveteran, Sir John was able and willing, but conscious that hisforces were far from infallible. When all the ovens of Edinburghhad given up their bread, the British Army moved north. Manyin the establishment believed that it was just a case of nipping theRising in the bud, of dispersing a discontented rabble. If onlythey could have seen the swift marches of the hard mountainmen, and their swelling numbers. If only they could have13 According to John Home, no friend of the cause.39

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITimagined the newly formed Jacobite Army, eager for battle andfor the righting of ancient wrongs:The brave Prince marching on foot at their head like a Cyrusor a Trojan hero, drawing admiration and love from all thosewho beheld him, raising their long dejected hearts, andsolacing their minds with the happy prospect of another GoldenAge.John DanielA Trojan hero indeed: having left his distant land behind, bravingadversity and war at sea, following a destiny he now trulyunderstood, Aeneas had come to fight. Arma virumque cano. 1414 ‘I sing of arms and of a man,’ Virgil, Aeneid, I.1.40

The PoliticianThe Christian hero’s looks here shine,Mixt with the sweetness of the Stewart’s line.Courage with mercy, with virtue join’d,A beauteous person with more beauteous mind.How wise! How good when great! When low, how brave!Who knows to suffer, conquer, and to save.Such grace, such virtues, are by Heav’n design’d.To save Britannia and bless mankind.Anon, Lyon in Mourning 15Charles had an enormous mountain to climb, and not just interms of militarily overthrowing the British government. In orderto raise, maintain, and keep his army, he needed skills beyondthose of an ordinary general. In an army of volunteers (orsomething very near that), there is not the inherent discipline andobligatory obedience which can be found amongst regular forces.Nor are there the structures and systems of support and supply.Charles also knew that an army of a few thousand stood littlehope of overwhelming the entire nation, without widespreadpublic support and sympathy. He was a liberator, he believed, nota conqueror, and as such he could neither shun nor alienate anypart of the society into which he had thrust himself. If he was tosucceed, he needed to be a statesman, a diplomat, and apolitician.In this regard, the Prince has acquired a rather mixedreputation. His conduct and manner have been much criticised,and even his intelligence has been questioned. Elcho, whosereflections on the ’45 always carry the bitter tone of a mandisgruntled, noted that before the Rising, ‘the Prince was very15 The poem records a gentleman’s reaction on seeing the Prince’s portrait.Forbes (1895): II.359.41

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITignorant of what was happening in the United Kingdom,’ which hasled people to believe that he was both unfamiliar with thecountry, and therefore incapable of understanding it. CertainlyCharles was not as familiar with British society as Elcho was,being very much a society boy with close friends in all politicalcamps, but then how could Charles be so intimately aware? Atthe time Elcho was in Italy, however, the young noble had notbeen taken into the cause’s full confidence and he may not havebeen fully aware of how much Charles was absorbing. Certainlythe court itself was not ignorant, and Elcho himself admits thatKing James was, ‘well acquainted with Scotland and Scottishfamilies,’ information that must surely have been passed on to thecause’s champion before his “hunting trip” to Paris. It is, in fact,fairly clear that Charles clearly knew the men he was dealing withwhen he arrived in Scotland. When Cameron of Lochiel showedreluctance to commit to the Rising, it was thus that Charlesshamed him:Lochiel, who my father had often told me was our firmestfriend, may stay at home and learn from the newspapers thefate of his prince.Charles Edward StuartThe court had been in close contact with its most likelysupporters for some time, and must have been familiar with thebalance of power in Scotland. The Prince’s personal insight intothis is visible in his acknowledgement that his position inScotland was weakened by the (not surprising) impossibility ofwinning over the Duke of Argyll. Charles also acknowledged theimmense value to the establishment of Forbes of Culloden – athorn in the Jacobite side throughout the Rising. There is noclearer evidence as to Forbes’ value, and Charles’ awareness of it,that the Prince’s attempt to arrest him!For all the limitations exile placed on Charles’ knowledge ofpower and politics on the ground, he was nevertheless able to42

T HE P OLITICIANselect quite carefully who could most be relied upon and wherehe should strike. He was also possessed of a personality whichwould act firmly in his favour, especially in those first crucialmonths. In fact, Charles Edward Stuart quickly demonstrated animpressive set of abilities, and showed considerable promise as apolitical operator.The very fact that the Rising had occurred at all was down tothe Prince’s sheer determination. From the outset, he portrayedan, ‘all or nothing,’ mentality, and an accompanying drive tomaximise his opportunity. This was not petulance, nor rashness;it was a determination to maintain momentum, which the Princerightly acknowledged was the cause’s only real chance for success.The more the Jacobites delayed, the more the government couldrecover from the shock of his arrival and initial success. That iswhy Charles, ‘insisted always on advancing.’ It is in this light thatwe must judge comments such as Johnstone’s complaint that, ‘ifhe could only have restrained his impatience, and remained inScotland till his partisans had had time to join him at Edinburgh,’all might have been well. The Prince did remain in Scotland longenough after Prestonpans to expand his army significantly, but healso knew that England would soon be saturated with troopsreturning from Flanders and that he needed to ride the crest ofhis wave. For one thing, George would not accept the loss ofScotland and would soon counter strike. For another, Charleshad promised his father three crowns and he was keen to be seenas a man of his word: ‘what I have promised I will never departfrom’. 16Charles was not a deceiver, but such promises were largelypolitical. They display his awareness that all eyes were upon himand that he therefore needed to appear to be beyond reproach.Hence, although Glasgow was no friend of the Stuarts andmilitarily was at the Jacobites’ mercy in 1745, the Prince did notsimply demand money, but rather requested, ‘a loan of fifteen16 From a letter to the magistrates of Glasgow.43

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITthousand pounds sterling, which we hereby oblige ourselves to payback as soon as the nation shall be in a state of tranquillity.’ It was,of course, an unavoidable fact that exiled monarchs can rarelyoffer more than hollow rewards, titles and the promise of furthergratitude once their fortunes had improved, but the expression ofintent was important.Some of the more level headed of the Prince’s supportersactually sought security against their estates, although they musthave known such assurances carried little weight. When LordElcho gave Charles £1,500 just before the fall of Edinburgh, heobviously considered it to be a loan, but it fell into the categoryof favours Charles was to return upon the restoration. This neveractually occurring, Elcho was not the only person not to see anyreturn on their loans. It is perhaps the loss of this money,combined with his failure to earn a pardon, which helped poisonElcho against the Prince and so discoloured his narrative. Thereality is, of course, that Charles needed all the support and allthe money that he could get his hands on to ensure the Risinghad legs, and all other considerations were secondary to that aim.No doubt a Stuart restoration would have brought sweepingrewards for those who had made it happen, but everyone enters arebellion aware of the risk. Charles was obviously frustrated bythe suggestion that people were doing him favours, and is notedto have somewhat gracelessly stated, ‘that they had done nothingbut their duty as his father’s subjects.’ This comment is attributedagain by Elcho, and from a period when the Jacobite commandstructure – and the Rising as a whole – was falling apart. Ifgenuine, it smacks of frustration rather than ingratitude.What becomes very obvious, then, is that there are two sidesto Prince Charles during the Rising. One is the young royal,convinced of his own ability and liable to revealing the hottemper and troublesome stubbornness noted in his childhood, aswell as his genuine personal charisma and self-drive. The other isthe natural politician, who knew that the world was watchingand judging, and who therefore presented himself outwardly in a44

T HE P OLITICIANvery calculated manner. He highlighted his natural strengths, anddeliberately suppressed his weaknesses where possible; hemanaged his own image carefully. Thus he managed, despiteundoubtedly possessing some unattractive character traits, toinspire those around him, infect them with his confidence, andcreate around his person an enduring loyalty that would becomelegend. This reality is easily discernable throughout the ’45, andimplies a clearer political awareness than many have givencredited him.Charles was certainly aware that he needed to win hearts andminds if he was to achieve anything lasting, hence the promisesof rewards and the wish to act by the book. His politicaljudgement is obvious from the generous and liberal nature of hismanifestos, the policies of which he seems largely to havesustained during his time in Britain. On 6th September, thePrince was joined by the charmingly adventurous young cad,James Johnstone, who served for a time as his aide-de-camp.Johnstone’s memoir recalls that Charles, ‘granted a generalamnesty for all treasons, rebellions, or offences whatever against himand his predecessors since the Revolution in 1688.’ His words mirrorclosely the expression used in the manifesto which Charles hadinstructed to be prepared in Paris before his departure. ThePrince specifically targeted the military by promising, ‘a full, free,and general pardon to all officers, soldiers, and sailors, now engagedin the service of the usurper.’ 17 He guaranteed the retention of theirrank, and payment of all their arrears of pay along with certainother financial rewards once the country was restored to, ‘a stateof tranquillity,’ (another of those political promises). Charlesknew that by winning over, or at least holding back the overthostility of, the British military establishment, he couldundermine their ability to resist the restoration. Had hesucceeded in taking London, he would have required the supportof a much broader power-based than the highland clans, and the17 Appendix I.45

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITmilitary were included in that plan. Besides, according to Elchoat least, Charles, ‘believed firmly that the soldiers of the regularswould never dare fight against him as he was their true prince.’ Inorder to make the soldiers’ decision easier, however, he alsoreminded them that, ‘no engagements, entered into with a foreignusurper [George II], can dispense with the allegiance they owe totheir natural sovereign [James III].’ They should therefore feel nomoral concern for quitting their oaths. Sadly, many redcoats feltthe same about commitments undertaken to rebels in arms, andwould therefore ignore the parole given after their capture.Charles’ clemency was rarely matched or appreciated by hisenemies.The grant of a full pardon was part of Charles’ mission toappear as a liberator, not just restoring his father but liberatingthe whole nation, establishing a period of peace and freedomlong since forgotten. Charles carried with him a declaration fromhis father, to be published alongside his own manifestos, whichreveals that the king was not ignorant of the perceived plight ofhis estranged subjects. 18 He summarised how he viewed theScotland which he was sending his son to rescue:We see a nation, always famous for valour and highly esteemedby the greatest of foreign potentates, reduced to the condition ofa province, under the specious pretence of an union with amore powerful neighbour. In consequence of this pretendedunion, grievous and unprecedented taxes have been laid on andlevied with severity in spite of all representations that could bemade to the contrary and these have not failed to produce thatpoverty and decay of trade which were easily foreseen to be thenecessary consequences of such oppressive measures.Declaration of King James, Rome 174318 Appendix II.46

T HE P OLITICIANThis was not just a selfish campaign to restore the fortunes of afamily. It was intended, as the Prince always hoped it wouldprove, to be a rallying call to an aggrieved nation. The king andhis son were hoping to harness not just ancient loyalty to theStuarts – which was often more sentimental than proactive – butalso anti-unionism, general disenchantment, economic hardship,and political discontent. In a manifesto that would hardly seemout of place today, James specifically expressed that he was,‘particularly solicitous to settle, encourage, and maintain the fisheryand linen manufactory of the nation, which we are sensible may beof such advantage to it.’ In Scotland, these issues were powerfulmotivators, although Jacobitism should not be identified asScottish nationalism. Charles was for three crowns, with orwithout Union.As liberators, the Jacobites could not afford to be heavyhanded. Civic law, not military, was the preference. Charles,viewing himself in this way, placed an important emphasis on thelegality and fairness of the army’s actions. Those who opposed thecause did so at risk, ‘of being proceeded against according to law,’not with a fear of being sought out for vengeance, for example. 19This does not sit well with Lord Elcho’s famous tendency tothreaten military execution, something likely to be of anannoyance to his Prince who was engaged in a political battlebeyond Elcho’s military one. When the Jacobites took control ofa town, all magistrates and civic officials were asked to stay inpost, and efforts were maintained to have tax collection donethrough the usual channels. This is why extra payments, neededby the army, were sought as ‘loans’. Crucially, what the army tookthe army paid for, and this was maintained with surprisingsuccess throughout much of the campaign. At the same time, ofcourse, for those who did not abandon the Elector upon hearingof the Stuart generosity, the threat of retaliation – legal or19 Appendix I.47

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITotherwise – was certainly present. Charles knew he could affordto be liberal, but not soft.The political settlement of the nation was something toCharles could deal with after the war, but in the meantime hewas reliant on his sensible and placatory manifestos to encouragesupport from as broad a platform as possible. In the days ofrestricted communications, such documents were Charles’ onlymeans of representing what he stood for. As such, the documentsare surprisingly liberal, and gave the lie to the theory that a Stuartrestoration would be a regression to the days of Carolian divineright and the killing times of the post-covenant era. Instead,Charles offers a vision of an enlightened Stuart age, of rule by,‘the advice of a free Parliament, wherein no corruption, nor undueinfluence whatsoever shall be used to bypass the votes of the electors,or elected.’ 20 Again, the words could belong to a much morerecent campaign that this one. It is easy to dismiss these aspolitical promises, but they are the best definition of whatCharles and his father represented, and King James was the sortof man whose word was worth accepting. After all, it was theironly hope. The importance of these manifestos to the causecannot be overstated, or else there would have been little need toinsist upon the documents’ publication. They were to be readfrom the market cross of each liberated town, as the new Kingwas proclaimed.Whatever the Stuarts promised, and however oppressive andcorrupt the government of George II was perceived to be, therewas still one fundamental issue between James and his peoplewhich stood as wide as a gulf: faith. The Hanoverian dynasty heldthe ace in so much as they were solidly Protestant, and James wasundeniably Catholic, along with his sons. The obsessive faith ofClementina Sobieski, whilst it made her a virtual saint in catholiccircles, had a damaging effect on the cause. The dependency onthe Pope and the court’s location in Rome provided further20 Appendix I.48

T HE P OLITICIANpotent symbols of the difference between James and the majorityof his subjects. However, the ‘45 Rising was never a religious war.In his manifesto, Charles identifies that he and his father are ofone mind in that they were:fully resolved to maintain the Church of England, as by lawestablished, and likewise the Protestant churches of Scotlandand Ireland, conformable to the laws of each respectiveKingdom; together with a toleration to all ProtestantDissenters; he being utterly averse to all persecution andoppression whatsoever, particularly on account of conscienceand religion.Manifesto of Charles Edward StuartThis promise, supported by James’ sensible inclusion of Protestantsin his court and household, would not be enough toprevent their enemies’ attacks on religious grounds. Nevertheless,the Stuarts were offering a system of tolerance and freedom ofconscience which was far beyond the society they were offering itto. 21 Charles was eminently aware of the importance of theimportance of religion, and was determined that it should not bean issue in his war. Certainly he had no great personal interest inthe church, and although nominally a catholic, it could hardly besaid that his faith defined him. Perhaps it was a retaliation to thebehaviour of a mother driven to perpetual illness by her constantexile at the altar. Perhaps, however, the Prince was just beingpolitical astute. It is clear that he, in the words of Johnstone’slater editor, Brian Rawson, ‘wore his religion lightly.’ Charlesavoided overt association with Catholicism during the campaign,but also refused to alienate them. There were notable exceptions,such as the Catholic bishop Hugh MacDonald’s blessing of theRoyal Standard at Glenfinnan, and, of course, the presence of21 This was not new to the Stuarts, and others, especially King Charles II, hadstood for something similar.49

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITprominent Catholics in his council, but there were far moreProtestants in his army than Catholics.Regardless of Charles’ personal ambivalence, religion wasundeniably important. The government’s propaganda was firmlyfocussed on identifying Pretender with Pope, and there were theusual incendiary pamphlets about foreign slavery and babies onspits to go alongside. This was to be expected, and to tackle itLord George Murray proposed at Holyrood that Catholicsshould not be given a high status role in the army, as it wouldhave a, ‘very Il effect in England.’ Charles was not insensitive tothe issue, but recognised the impossibility of Murray’s proposal.The Prince... answered yt when he’d be in England, if hisfriends wou’d find fault wth it [Catholics on the council], ythe’d follow their advise, but in the present scituation yt he wasin, yt he cou’d not really propose to the Duc of Perth, not tocome to the Counsel nor act as Lt General; yt Sr ThomasSheridan was a Counsel yt was given him by the King, yt theChiefs or Colonels yt were Catholiks, had as much right asothers.Major-General John William O’SullivanCharles seems to have stuck by this promise to follow thesuggestion whilst in England, as at the council of war in Derbythe Duke of Perth was absent, ‘being excluded on account of hisreligion’. 22 Perth must, however, have maintained a voice even ifostensibly absent from council. It must be acknowledged that,although many of Charles’ senior supporters were Catholic(especially those who joined him before his arrival in Scotland,which is unsurprising considering his recruiting ground), thesame was not true of his army. The majority of his support, in22 Sir John Macdonald, quoted in O’Sullivan (1938): 102. Macdonald wasone of the Seven Men of Moidart, and a French cavalry officer. His memoiris technically anonymous, but is has been identified confidently.50

T HE P OLITICIANfact, came from Episcopalian protestants from both the highlandsand the north east. There were also plenty of Presbyterians in theJacobite army, including Minister James Robe of Kilsyth, whotook great pains to prepare himself for the war. Thus in terms ofCharles’ motives and politics, and those of his supporters,religion was far from being the principal issue.Unfortunately, Charles’ religious tolerance was not matchedby his opponents. In Edinburgh, the centre of Presbyterianresistance to Stuart kings of the previous century, many ministersrefused to preach during his presence there. In a church-goingsociety, the unofficial strike undermined Charles’ intention tomake everything seem as normal, that he was the liberator. ThePrince made great efforts to encourage them to return, whichAlice Wemyss acknowledges as evidence that he was, ‘betterinformed,’ than many of his party. He gave his word to adeputation of clergymen that they would not, ‘be called to accountfor any imprudent language they might use in the pulpit.’ Theresult, unfortunately, was a series of vigorously anti-Jacobitesermons which hardened many hearts against the restoration.Most ministers still stayed away, but one appropriately namedMacvicar, who seems to have taken heart from his proximity toEdinburgh Castle, added in his prayers: ‘as to this young personwho has come amongst us seeking an earthly crown, do Thou, in thymerciful favour, grant him a Heavenly one!’ He was obviously awit. Such intransigence was a bugbear to Charles’ politicalmission, but he could hardly have done much more.Charles was obviously aware of his enemies’ portrayal of hisefforts, and their determination to attack him on grounds ofreligion. This awareness is acknowledged explicitly in hisdeclaration of October 10th 1745, in which he made a reasonedand sensible riposte:Do not the pulpits and congregations of the clergy, as well asyour weekly papers, ring with the dreadful threats of popery,slavery, tyranny, and arbitrary power, which are now ready to51

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITbe imposed upon you by the formidable powers of France andSpain? Is not my royal father represented as a bloodthirstytyrant, breathing out nothing but destruction to all who willnot immediately embrace an odious religion? Or have I myselfbeen better used? But listen only to the naked truth.Declaration of Charles Edward Stuart 23In this declaration, which followed the Prince’s astonishingvictory at Prestonpans (for which he gives thanks to God),Charles systematically rebuts the accusations of his opponents. Itis a powerful document and presents us with a clear indicator ofthe political competence of the Prince and his staff. He clearlyknew that support from France and Spain was associated with areturn of established Catholicism, and he was right to see this as athreat to his cause. As much as he needed French support, heknew that whilst Britain was at war with France, this would jarnational feeling. Charles could not afford to be seen to beunpatriotic. The rather cunning rebuttal was the fact that theGeorge II was also reliant on foreign forces:The fears of the nation from the powers of France and Spain,appear still more vain and groundless: my expedition wasundertaken unsupported by either: but indeed, when I see aforeign force brought by my enemies against me, and when Ihear of Dutch, Danes, Hessians, and Swiss, the Elector ofHanover’s allies, being called over to protect his governmentagainst the King’s subjects, is it not high time for the King myfather, to accept also of the assistance of those who are able, andwho have engaged to support him?Declaration of Charles Edward StuartDespite Charles’ pains to keep religion off the table, then, itbecame an important part of the propaganda battle to win over23 Appendix III. The authorship is probably John Murray of Broughton.52

T HE P OLITICIANthe populace. The Prince was the very vision of toleration andmoderation, but was inevitably on the back foot throughout theargument.An interesting footnote to this issue is an incident recordedfrom during the invasion of England. Macdonald of Keppochurged Charles to openly attend a Protestant service, as adeliberate attempt to make a public statement about his religiouspolicy. Such a demonstration would probably have appearedshallower than Keppoch was imagining, and might have madethe Prince look somewhat hypocritical, but Charles’ apparentresponse was of an unexpected nature: ‘Pray, gentlemen, can youassure me that I will not be obliged to return to foreign parts? Satisfyme as to this point, and I will know what to do.’ The comment, if itwas made, is telling: the Prince was far from naive. He knew thatwhilst overt Catholicism would weaken his position in Britain, arejection of it would leave him isolated on the continent. Hewould alienate King Louis, his best hope of support, and wouldthreaten the exiled court’s position in papal accommodation. Italso belies the idea that Charles was blundering forward with hiscampaign based on blind optimism. Momentum was his onlyhope, he knew that much, but there was always a chance offailure. With hindsight, it was a sensible call.However, the last word on Charles’ religious attitude liesbeyond the ’45. Four years after his return to France, the Princewent on an astonishing round of incognito travel, and for thefirst time entered London. At the Church of St Mary le Strand,Charles was received into the Church of England, in a bid tospark a resurgence of Jacobite support following his conversion.Clearly religion was not as important to him as politics. What isrevealed by Charles’s balanced religious policy throughout thecampaign is a man who was clearly conscious of faith’simportance to the lives of his intended subjects, of its powerfulrole in both domestic and international politics, and whobehaved accordingly to satisfy those requirements as best hecould. The fact that the minor details of religious difference seem53

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITto have mattered little to him personally did not mean that hedid not understand that they mattered to others. Nor did thismean he was a man without faith. All told, he was probablygenuinely committed to religious tolerance, and with nointention of creating a Catholic revolution. As so often withCharles’ more attractive qualities, his attitude was not mirroredin his adversaries, and ultimately their prejudice proved morepowerful than his moderation.The mission to win over his people was a task that brought outsome of Charles’ finest attributes, not only exposing his politicalshrewdness, but also a compassionate nature. The clearestevidence of this emerges from his treatment of prisoners, and ofthe wounded, especially at Prestonpans. The most extraordinarypoint about this is that, for once, the sources agree. It was clearlyconsidered noteworthy:“No” says he [Charles], with a tender hart & in a most feelingway, “I cant rest until I see my own poor men taken care of, &the other wounded too, for they are the Kings Subjects as wellwe, & it’s none of their fault if they are led on blindly.”John William O’Sullivan[Charles] caused take the same care of their wounded as of hisownLieutenant General Lord George MurrayHe committed to my care one hundred and ten English officers,who were our prisoners, with orders that they should want fornothing.James Johnstone[In treating the wounded of both sides] we followed not onlythe dictates of humanity but the orders of our PrinceAnon, Lockhart papers54

T HE P OLITICIANHe [Charles] had... shown great moderation at the time of hisvictory.Lord Elcho[I, Henderson] saw the young Chevalier, who by the advice ofPerth, had sent to Edinburgh for surgeons.Andrew HendersonHenderson was no friend to the Prince’s cause, whilst we havealready seen that Elcho is reluctant to attribute to Charles anygreat skills. It is a sad truth of the ’45 Rising that not even thesources from Jacobite officers often need not be considered biasedin the Prince’s favour, and so the insistence in the sources thatCharles behaved admirably was clearly noticeable and public. Itwas also to his great credit, and again not echoed by thetreatment his soldiers were later to receive from their opponents.This surprised Charles even in Edinburgh, when the garrisonthreatened to bombard the city:I am equaley suprised and concerned at the barbarity of theorders yt have ben signified to you from the Castle, and whichthose who command in it say they have recived from the Electorof Hanover... I shall be heartley sorey for any mischief yt maybefall the City.Charles Edward StuartCharles behaved carefully after Prestonpans, and his actions arerevealing not just of an admirable character but also of a sensiblepolitician at work. He had won a spectacular victory, one whichshocked the world, and he needed to capitalise on hisachievement. This demanded that the victory was loudlyproclaimed and its importance vocally expressed. At the sametime, however, celebrating victories in this civil war was hardlylikely to win over moderates, especially considering hisopponent’s eagerness to associate Jacobitism with tyranny and55

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITforeign aggression. Although this put Charles in an awkward fix,he handled it well. First, he ensured that high levels of care wereprovided for the wounded and that prisoners were taken andattended to equally appropriately. The victorious army was thensent back to Edinburgh, leading the captured standards andprisoners of the British army, in what was essentially a victoryparade to announce the completeness of the Jacobite success.Charles, however, to balance this, remained absent from theprocession and returned to the capital rather more subtly. Hethen, ‘published several edicts, one of which prohibited all publicrejoicings on account of the victory obtained over General Cope, as itwas purchased at the expense of the blood of his subjects’. This waswhat Elcho termed his ‘great moderation,’ and it was thecornerstone of Charles public image and political presentation.He also learned his lessons. When it became clear that releasedprisoners were not honouring their parole, ‘the Prince obligedthose who were taken at Falkirk to add their oath to their parole, tobind them more effectively.’ Of course, all this makesCumberland’s pretence that Charles ordered no quarter to begiven at Culloden ever more hollow and dishonourable.As was perhaps natural for a man in Charles’ position, thePrince was not always presenting the world with the reality of hisperson. He made great efforts to ensure his image and behaviourwon over as many supporters as possible, and that he maintainedthe morale of those already attached to the cause. At the sametime, he was occasionally forced to wear his heart on his sleeve,and we are fortunate in the surviving memoirs that we havesnapshots of his behaviour when amongst friends as well as whenin public. At his stage, suffice it to say that the very existence of adistinction between the Prince’s private and public face reveals hispolitical sense. Nevertheless, one eye-witness testimonial showsus that it was occasionally possible to see through the slickpresentation. John Hume noted that, whilst many Edinburghcitizens were swept away by his charm and his majesticappearance:56

T HE P OLITICIANThe Whigs looked upon him with other eyes. They acknowledgedthat he was a goodly person; but even in thattriumphant hour, when he was about to enter the palace of hisfathers, the air of his countenance was languid andmelancholy.John HomeThis is in contrast to another witness at the same event, whoremarked that he was, ‘smiling all the time,’ and it revealssomething further about the Prince. The confidence that he soreadily displayed and which so often drew people to his sideagainst their better judgement, was at least partly political. Thereis no doubt that Charles genuinely believed in himself, his cause,and the ability of his supporters to achieve their aims, but he wasalso deeply conscious of the undertaking’s risks, and the immensedifficulties he was facing. It was already visible in Edinburgh, andmore understandably, later in the campaign as well:He had a princely aspect; and its impact was much deepenedby the dejection that appeared in his pale countenance anddowncast eye. He evidently wanted confidence in his owncause, and seemed to have a melancholy foreboding of thatdisastrous issue which ruined the hopes of his family forever.Anonymous eye-witness, Glasgow 24This is visible in aspects of his behaviour, but only readilydiscernable if it is being sought. If it is accepted that Charles wasfully aware of the odds he faced, then it is easier to comprehendthe extremity of rage in Derby, and indeed at any occasion wherehis eagerness for battle or forward motion is opposed. To gofurther, it can be seen that Charles in fact had a deepercomprehension of the overall stakes than many of those aroundhim, whose focus could often be more parochial. The Cause did24 Evidently written with hindsight, after Culloden.57

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITnot call for slow and cautious steadiness, but dynamic aggressionand determined pressure; momentum was the key. O’Sullivan,who was probably Charles’ closest friend during the campaign,recalls from the night before Culloden that the Prince, ‘in thebottom had no great hopes,’ whereas Elcho, ‘supped there that nightwith the Prince, who had no doubts as to the issue of the conflict; hehad a most exalted idea of his cause.’ It seems that Elcho wasreceiving the Prince’s public face, whilst O’Sullivan was able toread the reality of his master’s mind.Charles Edward Stuart, then, was no idealistic adventurerrushing into a course of action which exposed his friends to ruin,without a care for their fate. On the contrary, he was sensible ofthe needs of his cause, and his role within it. He came toScotland armed with the documents which would give hisauthority a legal basis (his commission of regency) and identifythe political position he represented (the manifestos). He thenused his personal charm, his ability to engage and motivate men,and his optimism and enthusiasm, to begin a large scale militarycampaign out of nothing. As the opportunities came, he showedhimself to be a compassionate and enlightened leader, and ashrewd politician for a man of his age and experience. He knewthe importance of playing down his own religion, and of offeringsafeguards and dialogue to the clergy that opposed it. He kepttight control of his forces, sought hearts and minds, and used hisown person to seduce fresh support and bolster those alreadydeclared. Charles’ optimism was infectious, but it was also basedon a balanced and intelligent analysis of his position. Those whodid not trouble to learn who he really was, failed to notice thedepth of his thinking, and misinterpreted frustration as anger,and determination as arrogance. The campaign of 1745-6 put animmense strain on an untested and inexperienced youngpolitician, but he bore it with a smile and swagger which –almost always – covered up the true cost to both his mental andphysical health. The ultimate failure of the Rising, and itsinability to gather sufficient support to sweep to victory in58

T HE P OLITICIANLondon, should not detract from the political skills whichCharles evidently possessed.If I die it shall be, as I lived, with honour; and the pleasure Itake in thinking I have a brother in all respects more worthythan myself to support your just cause, and rescue my injur’dcountry from the oppression under which it groans (if it willsuffer itself to be rescued) makes life more indifferent to me.Charles Edward Stuart 2525 Letter to King James, dated Perth, September 10th 1745.59

The Fall of EdinburghOver the ancient capital of Scotland, the dismal knell of the firebellsignalled that something was amiss, on this extraordinarySabbath. There was already an uncomfortable feel in the hollowkirks, where only a small proportion of the usual packedcongregations had gathered, and those present had come to praythat yesterday’s news might yet prove false. Word had spread fastaround the city that an innumerable horde of Highlanders wasapproaching the city. They, with their strange language, dishevelledlooks and mountain costume, were surely bent on therestoration of Popery and the plunder of the city. The news hadfiltered into Edinburgh from Corstorphine, three miles to thewest, where the ageing Colonel James Gardiner had drawn up hisregiment of dragoons. The enemy were so close at hand, thateven after their retreat from Stirling they were forced to stand tothroughout the night. In reality, Gardiner’s men had not evenseen the Jacobite army, advancing cautiously towards Edinburgh.In response to the fire-bell, the citizens hurried out of kirk tosee what new emergency the city faced, and moved in somenumbers up the broad central spine of the city towards its heart.So much activity was unusual for a Sunday. It was September15th 1745, and the crowds were gathering around the High Kirkof St Giles, which dominated the centre of the capital. Aroundthem were all the symbols of the city’s power: the Goldsmith’sHall, where the Town Council met; the brooding Tolbooth,bastion of law and order; the luckenbooths where the city tradersmade their fortunes. This was Edinburgh, capital of NorthBritain and a wealthy trading hub. There must have been thoseamongst the crowds, however, whose eyes glanced at othersymbols too. Atop the Mercat Cross, the centre of the burgh’smarkets, reared the proud unicorn and other emblems of royalScotland. It was a long time since a king had come to Edinburgh,and he had been a Stuart. That reflection might have drawn the60

T HE FALL OF E DINBURGHcitizen’s eye across to the great bronze hovering over the crowd:Charles II, mounted and dominant, in the dress of a Romanemperor and with his gaze too high to be met by any beneathhim. Behind the King, the old Parliament Hall. No parliamentsat in Edinburgh these days, not since the Union.For a better view, the citizen shakes off these thoughts andmoves towards the High Street, treading carefully across thepacked earth of the square. The market was all packed up for theSabbath, and the luckenbooths stood bolted. There were troopsmarching up the slope. The town guard, with their red-brownsurcoats were apparently already on the Lawnmarket, he is told.These others are the Volunteers. Young men and college boysmany of them; fresh faced and holding their muskets clumsily.Here and there, one looked proud and defiant, but most of thesoldiers scanned the crowd nervously. Around them, motherssobbed gently, and some citizens cried out to them. It wasdifficult to hear whether the shouts were of encouragement ornot. Some clearly called on them to turn back. Friends andneighbours walked alongside the volunteers, exhorting them toone course or another. There was an angry scene as a youngsoldier threatened to fire on a window, from which someone hadoffered some mocking insult. Edinburgh was a city of hightenements, and from those upper windows there was a fine viewof this bizarre gathering.The soldiers made for a pitiable sight as they came to a haltfurther up the hill, where the High Street gave way to theLawnmarket, and there they drew up with the Town Guard,whose appearance was at least a little more martial. They lookedno more confident. In happier, more certain times, the mobwould surely be behind them, but the whole city seemed infectedwith a lack of confidence that it had not known before. Beyondthe little army, across an open space at the head of the hill, stoodthe dark brooding mass of the great fortress. Dominating the city,it was the symbol of government authority. The Union Flagfluttered above in the autumn breeze that whipped up from the61

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITForth. It makes the citizen look east, down the Royal Mile awayfrom the Castle. Edinburgh was a city with two anchors. Invisiblebeyond the kink in the High Street, and beyond the tower of theNetherbow Port, there stood the Palace of Holyroodhouse. It wasa palace dominated by the memories of the Stuarts, but it was along time since a king had rested there.How many people looked upon those symbols of past andpresent that day, and felt something unexpected stir inside them,cannot be known. Edinburgh had a proud heritage as a royalcapital, but that was all in the past. The city still governed itselfwith its old Council, and the guilds and burgesses still held theirtraditional influences, but there was surely a consciousness of atime when the city had held more power than it did now. Rivalswere growing in strength, like Glasgow to the west, which wasexpanding rapidly on the benefits of Union with England.Scotland’s government was another world away, with KingGeorge in London. Many would not speak it, and many wouldnot even sense it, but there was a part of Edinburgh which longedto be a capital again, for Stuart or Hanoverian.There was a new noise now. There was a ragged cheer fromparts of the crowd as it parted on the High Street. Splendid inscarlet, and with their hooves kicking up clods, Hamilton’sDragoons rode up from the Leith Road towards the West Bow.They had been drawn up on the grassy links at Leith, the port onwhich Edinburgh merchants – like Provost Archibald Stewart –depended for their fortunes. Their timely presence seemed tostiffen some of the citizens’ resolve, and at their approach thevolunteers called out a huzzah, and tricorns were waved. Thedragoons drew their swords and clanged their equipment insalute, as they turned down the dog-leg of the West Bow, alongthe open Grassmarket, and through the West Port. They wouldride to Corstorphine, and surely put some backbone back intoGardiner’s men. It had all been decided at a council of war thatmorning: the Volunteers and a portion of the Town Guard wouldjoin them, and together they would resist the onset of the Young62

T HE FALL OF E DINBURGHPretender. Accordingly, when the dragoons had passed, theVolunteers were turned about and ordered down the Bow.The sad reality was that the mixture of jibes, exhortations andthe visible lack of confidence had all taken their toll on theVolunteer companies. Most did not in fact march to theGrassmarket, and for the College Company that did, they wereset upon by all manner of encouragements not to proceedfurther. The truth was that most Volunteers were eager to defendthe town’s ancient walls, but had not bargained on fighting out inthe open where, as the military had decided, they would be usedto draw the fire of the Jacobites whilst the regular dragoonsattempted to achieve something more significant. When theuniversity principal, Dr Wishart, came out to encourage his boysto cease their pretence at soldiery, what remained of theirconfidence began to falter. Drummond, their commander, was aformer Lord Provost with an eye on Stewart’s post, and theelections were imminent. He suddenly saw the prospect ofbravely marching the cream of the city’s youth out of the WestPort, never to return, and destroying his political ambitions at thesame time. The troop marched back to college. Nevertheless,some recently raised militia and a few portions of the Guardmarched out, and stood ready with Gardiner’s and Hamilton’s.They no doubt heard all the dreadful reports which the troopershad conjured during their fearful night at arms.Even to the most optimistic Whig in Edinburgh, it must havebeen clear that the city was heading to disaster. The infantrywhich had marched out were clearly inadequate, and althoughthere were disparate groups of volunteers gathering, the chancesof holding Edinburgh were slight. It was a defensible city,surrounded by medieval defences on all sides, and the esteemedmathematician Professor Maclaurin had been appointed to overseewall repairs and preparations. Cannon had been mounted,especially to protect the east side, which was overlooked by thehigh tenements of the Canongate which were beyond the wall’sprotection. It was the uncertainty in the city which was proving63

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITto be its fundamental weakness. Provost Stewart was openly, andprobably unfairly, challenged as a Jacobite sympathiser (he wastried thoroughly after the Rising), and everyone was conscious ofthe upcoming elections and therefore watching one another’smoves. Both the Bank of Scotland and the Royal Bank of Scotlandhad been busily packing all their reserves into Edinburgh Castle,as well as withdrawing notes and adding to the generalnervousness. On top of this, there had been weeks of meetings,delays, and debates over the legality of raising forces withoutroyal assent, and also the disturbing silence that had followed thedeparture of the senior military commander, Sir John Cope. Postfrom the north had been interrupted by the movement of thearmies, and the silence had only broken when news arrived thatCope had been outmanoeuvred and had lost the road toEdinburgh. He was in Inverness, the Pretender was in Perth.Cope had, at least, left his cavalry behind, foreseeing the riskof this occurrence. A cautious, sensible man with a distinguishedmilitary career, Cope would not risk battle on unfavourableterms, and had dodged away from the Jacobites at theCorrieyarick Pass. Nevertheless, he knew he needed to protect thecapital, so having marched to Aberdeen he put his army to seaand headed south again. Meanwhile, Colonel Gardiner shouldhave been able to delay the Jacobite advance sufficiently to buyCope his opportunity. Unfortunately, inexplicably, Gardiner hadfailed utterly to resist the Jacobite crossing of the Firth of Forth atthe Fords of Frew, and had retreated rapidly from Stirling. Hehad failed even to observe the Jacobites, let alone harass theiradvance. Ideally, he would have shadowed their movements inorder to gain an estimation of their strength, whilst allowing hismen a chance to judge their enemy and become accustomed totheir appearance. With no cavalry of their own at this stage, theJacobites could not have retaliated, and highlanders traditionallyfeared cavalry more than infantry. Regardless, the dragoonsmerely withdrew towards Corstorphine, and their morale fellaccordingly.64

T HE FALL OF E DINBURGHGeneral Guest, the senior commander remaining inEdinburgh, had agreed with Drummond that a stand could bemade if Hamilton’s were brought up from Leith and somesupporting infantry provided from the city. It was unlikely tosucceed. With his military eye, General Sir Robert Cadell wouldlater despair at the folly of the plan. In reality, it was not even putto the test. With the failure of the Prince’s army to appear atCorstorphine, the infantry returned to the city to undertake theirshare of night duties. After a day in arms, and the unnervingscenes in the city that morning, the men must have beenexhausted and demoralised. Brigadier Fowke, arriving to takecommand of all the cavalry, at last reached Edinburgh and agreedwith Guest and the Lord Provost that the dragoons shouldwithdraw to the close protection of the city. As soon as it felldark, the cavalry retired to Coltbridge. It had been another longday in the saddle, and it had again ended in retreat. Morale wasfalling dangerously low on all fronts. Meanwhile, at least, theProvost was being proactive and examined the defences at oneo’clock in the morning.The following day, after another night on the alert, thedragoons were reviewed at Coltbridge on the Water of Leith.They were not in a good state, and Fowke himself noted, ‘manyof the horses’ backs were not fit to receive their riders; many of themen’s and some of the officers’ legs so swelled that they could not wearboots.’ 26 At last a small reconnaissance was sent west to discoverthe motions of the Jacobites, and these came back with the newsthat the enemy were at Corstorphine. At the same time, a certainMr Alves, who worked at Writers’ Court keeping the courtrecords up to date, arrived in Edinburgh after riding past theJacobite army and speaking with the Duke of Perth. They hadpromised to pay Edinburgh a visit, apparently aware of thepreparations to resist them. Although the Provost tried to calmthe fellow, he spread his fear throughout the city.26 This is taken from evidence at Cope’s inquiry.65

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITAs the citizens soaked up the news, word reached them of analtogether unexpected motion amongst the troops at Coltbridge.They gathered on Castle Hill, before the fortress gates, and at thenorth-facing windows of the high tenement buildings whichflanked the narrow closes that fed off the Royal Mile. BrigadierFowke, acknowledging the frankly inexplicable lack of supplieshe was receiving and the poor state of his troops, and now awarethat his enemy was on the march, decided to withdraw further.His aim was an orderly withdrawal towards Musselburgh, wherehe was in a stronger position to connect with Cope, who wasexpected at one of the East Lothian ports at any moment.Already nervous, exhausted, and convinced that the enemy wasupon them, a large portion of the cavalry took fright. Thestrategic withdrawal became an all-out flight. From the windowsof Edinburgh, the citizens looked on aghast as the cavalry of theBritish army fled between the Lang Dykes, on a roadway thatpassed along the north shore of the Nor Loch, the stagnantartificial lake the protected the north of the city. 27 It was about3pm, and the enemy was nowhere to be seen. As the morale ofthe dragoons broke for the first time, that of the city began tofalter too. This was the infamous Canter of Coltbridge.To add to the city’s nerves, General Guest evacuated his townhouse and withdrew into the Castle. The citizens now feltexposed; there was nothing between them and the enemy excepttheir own walls. As this was happening, Prince Charles drew uphis forces at Gray’s Mill, just two miles to the west, and sent amessage demanding the city’s surrender. A petition was alreadycirculating the city requesting exactly that, showing that theinitiative had now passed to those who opposed resistance. TheProvost had to disperse the anxious crowds with drummers, and27 The loch was a frightful cesspool in places, and was drained in stagesduring the mid-late eighteenth century. It is now Princes Street Gardensand Waverley railway station. The Lang Dykes were roughly were PrincesStreet and George Street are today, and all the area between Edinburgh andLeith was open agricultural space.66

T HE FALL OF E DINBURGHthe tension was palpable. The gates were being barricaded, and ameeting called in the Goldsmiths’ Hall on Parliament Square.Some citizens were clearly Jacobites; others just believed the cityindefensible without regulars. Whatever the motives, the clamourwas for an end to the pretence of resisting Charles’ advance.Many senior crown officials had already left the city, and ProvostStewart was in a vulnerable position. Resist, and be blamed forthe destruction of the city by siege or storm. Capitulate, and fuelaccusations of cowardice and treachery.Events in the capital were now turning to farce. The throngs atthe Hall were too great, and so the Provost ordered anadjournment to New Church Aisle, in the old nave of St GilesHigh Kirk. 28 To signal the new public meeting, the fire-bell wasagain rung. The residents of Edinburgh’s massive (some twelvestorey) tenements, in narrow closes and wynds so prone todevastating fires, panicked. The volunteers, still on the alert,thought it was their signal that the town was about to be attackedand rushed to their rally point on the Lawnmarket to awaitorders. The situation was bordering on chaos, and with theVolunteers unavailable to attend the meeting, the voice forresistance was softened. At about 6pm, as the darkness began togather, General Preston from the Castle sensed the mood of thecity had turned and he ordered the Volunteers to give up theirarms. At virtually the same moment, Charles’ summons arrived.This caused further uproar, as it was uncertain whether it couldlawfully be read before an assembly. The terms offered weregenerous, 29 but with word of Cope’s landing expected, it wasdecided to send a deputation to play for time.28 St Giles had been divided into separate areas during the Reformation, beingtoo large a space for Presbyterian style worship. Charles I had pulled downthe partitions when creating the Diocese of Edinburgh in the 1630s. Thedivisions had been renewed as the civil war exploded around the church’swalls.29 Written by Murray of Broughton, and playing on the city’s nostalgia for itsformer royal significance.67

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITThe Prince, however, had guessed the deputations’ game andwas determined that he would not negotiate on the surrender ofhis father’s capital. A second deputation was dispatched to Gray’sMill, but the day was wearing on and Charles was equally wellaware of Cope’s probable return. The emissaries were sent home,and a plan for the capture of Edinburgh was put into action. Aparty of about 900 men was assembled under the command ofO’Sullivan, and they quietly occupied the Canongate. The lowerend of the Royal Mile was unprotected by the walls, and thebuildings there kept the Jacobites out of sight. Despite thecannon arranged to sweep St Mary’s Street, and the fact that theCanongate was heavily inhabited, the soldiers managed to getinto position undetected. A rather clumsy attempt was made toenter, by off passing a soldier disguised in lowland clothes aBritish officer’s servant, but the town guard – althoughsupposedly quite drunk by this stage – drove him off withappropriate threats. Clearly there was some determination left,amidst the indecision and division in the city.The capital was exhausted, after weeks of nerve-strainingtension, and a dramatic and trying day. The night was alreadywell advanced, and the final embassy sent to Prince Charles hadreturned empty-handed. But the gates were barred, the cannonloaded, and the Town Guard still at post, including aboutfourteen men at the Netherbow. It was time to put the daybehind them, and face tomorrow with fresh eyes. The citizensretired to their lands, and the Provost withdrew to a no doubtsleepless bed. The carriage which had borne the deputation toGray’s Mill was now returned to its stabling – on the Canongate.It was the final farce of a fairly ridiculous day. As the NetherbowPort opened its gate, the highlanders rushed in. Caught outcompletely, the guards were disarmed. In a disciplined body, theJacobites then marched with swords drawn up the High Street,and quickly took the Guardhouse, which squatted outside theTron Kirk. The rest of the Guard’s were disarmed with impressiveefficiency. All the gates were subsequently taken with bloodless68

T HE FALL OF E DINBURGHsilence, and the Jacobites drew up quietly on Parliament Close.Those not instructed to remain on duty were eventuallyquartered in the old Parliament Hall itself, although it took a fewhours for to actually find the keys.The Jacobite storming of Edinburgh was thus a somewhat lessdramatic affair than some have been tempted to suggest. Somereports claim that the highlanders bellowed their war-cries andthat highland pipes tore through the early morning darkness.However, when a gentleman took his morning walk and saw ahighlander seated up a cannon mounted onto the walls, hesimply remarked that surely he was not from the same unitwhichwas on guard last night. The highlander replied withappropriate understatement, that the previous guards had beenrelieved. Thus the citizens of Edinburgh awoke to find the city inthe hands of the Jacobite army, which had occurred without fuss,noise or violence. The Provost had failed in his attempt to keepthe city in the hands of King George, but had succeeded insaving it from the rigours of a siege. With the town magistrates,he was brought to a tavern on Writers’ Close and told byO’Sullivan how the land lay. All would be well, and everythingpaid for. At the same town, if anyone dared to fire from awindow (the tenements would have made an assassin’s paradise),then that house would be fired. 30 Fire was a more dangerousenemy to Edinburgh than any highlander, and the warning washeeded.Charles received word of the capture with a mix ofanticipation and relief; he marched towards the city with the restof his forces. Taking a circuitous route to the south to avoid theCastle’s guns, he had the enclosure walls of Prestonfield breachedto allow passage into Holyrood Park. The army marched betweenthe Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat, beyond sight of the30 O’Sullivan states that he was firm with the Provost on account of the toneadopted by the deputies sent to Gray’s Mill the previous night, whichevidently lacked due deference to the Prince.69

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITfortress, and at Hunter’s Bog the Prince ordered the army toencamp. In this sheltered position, the men were not within viewof enemy spyglasses and could rest undisturbed, whilst they werealso beyond the temptation of aggravating the capital’s prosperity.Chambers reports the romantic image of the Prince following thegently rising ground from the bog, to where the eerie ruins of StAnthony’s Chapel rise over him on his left. There he stands,perhaps offered water from the ancient well that springs up there,and surveys for the first time the royal seat of Scotland. Restoredby order of Charles II, Holyroodhouse had last held a court whenthe future King James II occupied it as Duke of York. It was thefirst major victory of his campaign, and suddenly it seemed toCharles that despite all the odd, he might just pull it off.Holyrood was a Stuart palace for Stuart kings, and the symbolismof what was about to take place was lost on no one, especially notthe young Prince.Accompanied by Elcho and the Duke of Perth, CharlesEdward Stuart descended into the King’s Park on foot. The goodpeople of Edinburgh, overcoming the shock of the city’soccupation, were now overwhelmed by a mix of curiosity andenthusiasm. Whether they thought of him as their liberator, theirPrince Regent, young Chevalier or Young Pretender, theygathered in extraordinary numbers to see him. So great was thepress that, either for his safety or to make himself more visible,Charles re-mounted his horse. Elcho recalls there must have been60,000 people gathered in the suburbs and in the park, strainingto, ‘touch his boots or his horse furniture.’ If he was accurate in hisnumbers, then virtually the entire population of the city hadassembled. Friend and foe alike recalled what they saw, and thatCharles made a fine impression:The figure and presence of Charles were not ill suited to hislofty pretensions. He was in the prime of youth, tall andhandsome, and of a fair complexion... he rode well and lookedgraceful on horseback. The Jacobites were charmed with his70

T HE FALL OF E DINBURGHappearance. They compared him to Robert Bruce, whom heresembled, they said, in his figure as in his fortune.John HomeThe Prince knew that these were the images which would becarried across Britain. First impressions counted, and he made hismost of the moment. Everyone present, whether they believed inthe Cause or not, knew that they were witnessing history. Theatmosphere must have been extraordinary. Having entered thePalace of Holyroodhouse, led in by James Hepburn of Keith,Prince Charles established himself in the James V tower, andEdinburgh became a royal capital once more.As Charles busied himself setting up his court, the city’sattention turned towards the Mercat Cross. The crowds gatheredthere as King James was proclaimed amidst the huzzahs of hissoldiers and supporters. The declarations were read, pipes played,and the occupation given all the legality of a restoration. Theladies cheered from the same tenement windows from which theyhad so recently scorned the appearance of their volunteer militia.Most remarkably, the whole process of conferring legitimacy onthe rebellion took place within view – and range – of EdinburghCastle. The people of Edinburgh were by no means unanimouslyJacobite; these scenes were as much a release of the dread tensionthat had held the city for weeks, as a declaration of support forPrince Charlie. One shot from the walls, no doubt, would havebrought the majority to their senses. But for the time being thefortress stood silent; no doubt it would have its moment.The image of the entire population of the capital, just daysafter sending a declaration of loyalty to London, thronging tohuzzah their young Aeneas would send shockwaves throughGeorgian society. The events of September 17th 1745 marked aturning point in the war: no longer was Charles the leader of arebellion to be nipped in the bud; he was a proclaimed regentwho controlled the capital of a kingdom. The game was far fromover, of course. The Castle still flew the Union Flag, and was well71

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITprepared to hold out. With no artillery, the Jacobites had littlehope of taking it, and a stand-off ensued. As the city calmeddown and the Jacobites settled in, Charles learned at last of amore serious threat to his cause. Sir John Cope was disembarkinghis army at Dunbar, and the dragoons had gone to meet him.When the Prince was told, he turned to the messenger: ‘Is he, byGod.’Late in the morning of 21st September 1745, the citizens ofEdinburgh again saw King George’s dragoons riding up the HighStreet. The memory of Hamilton’s Regiment clattering theirswords to cheer the volunteers and militia must have seemeddistant after all that had happened since. The Jacobites had leftthe city a few days ago to give battle to Sir John Cope, and it wasonly a matter of time before news came in. From the upperapartments of the lands, or from a vantage point on the HighStreet, just in view on the eastern horizon but shrouded in thehaar of the Forth, lay the bloody battlefield of Prestonpans. Herethe fate of Scotland was being contested amidst the fog of war.Suddenly, four dragoons rode at speed up the Royal Mile, heedlessthat they were far from the reach of battle, the muddiedflanks of their mounts streaked with sweat and fear. The heart ofthe High Street was filled with locked stalls and carts of goods,and as they neared the Cross the dragoons were forced to slowtheir progress, as they pressed their horses through the thingathering of nervous citizens. In turn the citizens called uponthem for news, but their faces spoke more eloquently than anywords: Cope was beaten.Unaware of the outcome of the battle was Lawrence Oliphant,Laird of Gask. An ardent and faithful Jacobite, Oliphanthappened to be on Writer’s Court at this time. Here the writersof the signet kept Scotland’s laws up to date, from an impressiverange of buildings opposite the east end of St Giles. From the72

T HE FALL OF E DINBURGHclose head, Gask saw the four jittery dragoons and sensed anopportunity to serve the cause. In an audacious move, which canonly have been motivated by the nervous state of the soldiers, thePerthshire laird sprang out of the courtyard and commandedthem to surrender. Astonishingly, although two simply pushedheedlessly on towards the Castle, two of the dragoons stopped,dismounted, and prepared to surrender. Less surprisingly, theyimmediately realised their error in yielding to a singleunidentified man. Drawing their heavy dragoon pistols, they gavefire. The bursting of the guns thundered terrifyingly through thenarrow close into the courtyard, Oliphant dashing to safety in thedarkness beyond as the crash died out behind him. It wasremarkable that he survived this extraordinary scene, and he andhis son went on to escape Culloden too. The startled citizensmight not have known it, but that was probably the first timethose soldiers had fired their pieces that morning. Soon otherfugitives had joined them, seeking sanctuary in the rocky fortressbeyond.Any doubt as to what had happened at Prestonpans wasdispersed when, later in the day, the Camerons returned to thecapital to reoccupy the city ahead of the army’s return. Thefollowing day, a long and extended column of highland soldiersparaded captured government standards and prisoners into thecity, expressing the totality of the victory. The Prince arrived later,rather more reserved, and forbade any public celebrations.However keenly they had welcomed Charles, most citizens ofEdinburgh had probably never expected the situation in whichthey now found themselves.If Sir John had been victorious, then the Rising would havebeen ended and the previous week would have been little morethan a curious interference in the city’s business. Back to theelection campaign. But the defeat of the British army meant thatthe war would be extended, and that the Jacobites would returnto the city. This had many implications. Too much co-operationand the city would be punished if the Rising failed; too little and73

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITthe army of occupation was at liberty to punish it now. The citywas again a royal capital, with a court installed at Holyrood oncemore, but the castle brooded menacingly above it all. AlthoughGeneral Guest had proposed surrendering the fortress when theyheard the scale of Cope’s defeat, the equally aged General Prestonhad put spirit into the garrison and insisted on holding. Thesituation was tense, and the city was caught in the middle.Charles’ army was growing rapidly, as the highland units thathad failed to link up with him gathered at Edinburgh.Gentlemen and their servants were formed into a Lifeguard,satisfying King James’ promise of such a commission to theyoung Elcho. Active recruitment, combined with effective (ifunpopular) sorties into the well-stocked Lothians, meant that theJacobite army was becoming daily a more potent and formidableforce. It was also losing its highland character, with the additionof lowlanders, cavalry, and – by the middle of October – artillery.England would not be overwhelmed by a rabble of mountaineers,but by what the Prince hoped would become a Scottish nationalarmy. Every day he reviewed, inspected and drilled his forces inthe safe shadow of Arthur’s Seat. The Prince was not wasting amoment, yet he remained anxious to press onwards and grew, asJohnstone recalled, ‘impatient to enter England.’ The army wasconsolidating its position, dispersing units to Leith, Restalrig,Duddingston and Newhaven, which allowed for greater controlwhilst making it ever more difficult for the Government’s friendsto count. The three thousand that had swept away Sir John Copehad now become eight.The occupation of Edinburgh is sometimes viewed assomething of a sad mockery: the officers danced and flirted withthe fashionable ladies of the city; Charles’ lost himself in thedreamland of his hollow court; amateurs presenting a charade ofpower and ability; and a missed opportunity to walk intoEngland and finish the job. The reality was very much different.In terms of the larger scale, it was a period of sensible Jacobiteactivity and consolidation, and the preparation for the next big74

T HE FALL OF E DINBURGHstep. For the people of Edinburgh, it was a period of constantnervousness, sharp tension, and the very real risk of death orruin. Although an elite few could ease their fears by dancing inthe Palace, most felt they were caught in a volatile trap, swingingbetween the risks of offending the occupiers and the very real fearof treason trials after they had gone. The balance was delicate,and the threat real. However, it was not the Jacobites that thecitizens really needed to fear.The Lothians were in a flurry of activity. Jacobite patrols,recruitment parties, and supply missions criss-crossed the landsaround Edinburgh, for the most part obedient to Charles’instructions to be on their best behaviour. As the Jacobiteposition consolidated, they attempted to put pressure on theCastle. Its fall would be a great boon to the cause, and it wasunclear how well supplied it was. Accordingly, the Princestrengthened the guard positions around the fortress, withCamerons positioned in the Grassmarket, Lawnmarket, and theWeigh House (or Butter Tron). 31 The awkward stand-off wasbuilding to a climax. British ships in the Forth were nowharassing Jacobite reinforcements crossing to Edinburgh, and theresponse was that if this pressure from the Navy was maintained,then the pressure on the Castle would be increased accordingly.Until 29th September, there had been free communicationbetween town and fortress, but now supplies were to berestricted.General Guest, however, held the ace. From his vantage point,his guns commanded the city, and he knew that he wassufficiently well supplied to hold out. He also knew that Charleswas more concerned about hearts and minds than he was, and sohe sent a letter to Provost Stewart informing him that if theblockade was not lifted then he would open fire. The exhaustedProvost called a meeting in the New Church Aisle of St Giles,and the decision was taken to apply to Holyrood for the blockade31 Which stood where the traffic island now sits, outside the gates to the Hub.75

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITto be slackened. The following morning, Charles expressed hisoutrage that Guest would threaten the citizens – his ownneighbours – with violence and destruction. Any mischief, hethreatened, would be returned upon Guest’s estates in Fife, towhich Guest offered to instruct HMS Fox to fire on WemyssCastle which belonged to Elcho’s family. The situation wasdeteriorating, and both sides were getting edgy. During anawkward truce, Murray of Broughton allowed butter to be passedup to the Castle for the sake of Guest’s health, but it wasdiscovered that secret communications were being hidden in thepackages. Enraged, the Jacobites tightened the blockade further,and warning shots were fired to discourage a bold citizen whoattempted to approach the castle esplanade.The response was immediate: Guest now had his pretext. Theheavy guns of the half-moon battery which dominated the eastface of the Castle belched forth their fire, and muskets crackeddefiantly from the ramparts. The shot smashed into the walls ofthe houses at the Lawnmarket head, and crashed about theWeigh House. A number of highlanders were wounded, and aninnocent serving girl was also injured. She was just the firstinnocent victim of the last siege of Edinburgh Castle. It was 1stOctober, and Charles was indignant. All communication withthe Castle was now forbidden, but the Jacobites were clearly notin control of what was happening. Two days later, the gunsopened fire on an exposed Jacobite guard post at Livingston’sYards, near St Cuthbert’s Church (the West Church). To thecheers of his comrades, a certain Watson climbed down a ropefrom the Castle, slew several highlanders, and returned up therope as the house burned down behind him. A satirical broadsidewas soon produced lampooning one of the poor Jacobite guards:O were I ‘mong those safe Retreats conceal’d,Which Arthur’s Seat, and rocky Caltoun yield!In some dark Cavern funk, or Den profound!Where I no more might hear th’ alarming Sound76

T HE FALL OF E DINBURGHOf those dire Engines, thund’ring in my Ears,My Soul transfixing with a thousand Fears.The only good news coming through to Prince Charles that daywas that John Campbell of the Royal Bank of Scotland hadsuccessfully entered the Castle under a flag of truce, and cashedthe Jacobites’ bank notes. It was an extraordinary achievement,which possibly exposes that Campbell’s own political leaningswere less Whig than might have been proper. How Guest waspersuaded to permit this – it took many hours of debate – willnever truly be known. Campbell was in the Castle whilst Watsonwas earning his pension outside of it.The bombardment continued the following day. Guest wasthoughtful enough to warn the inhabitants to stay away from thenorth side of James Court, and considerable damage was done toother property on the Lawnmarket too. As darkness fell, thegarrison sallied out and burned down a number of houses, whichhad fortunately been abandoned, and began digging a trenchacross the esplanade. They were covered by cartridge shot whichraked the top of the Royal Mile, slaying at least two citizens,including a book-keeper, whilst a number of others sufferedinjuries. Citizens fled in terror, whilst according to the ScotsMagazine, the soldiers plundered the empty tenements. OnSaturday 5th, Patrick Crichton watched in horror as the garrisonfired musket shots down the Lawnmarket, the north side ofwhich sheltered irate and powerless highlanders, whilst atLiberton’s Wynd a tradesman in a blue coat lay in a pool ofblood, ‘his brains dashed owt.’ 32 Another man had a near miss asmusket balls skipped across the Grassmarket, and others fell atthe head of Fleshmarket Close on the High Street. The WeighHouse itself was in tatters, and there was now no safe movementwithin the town walls. In Leith, ships were firing on Jacobite32 The wynd ran south from where George IV Bridge now joins the RoyalMile.77

VALOUR DOES NOT WAIToutposts there too, and the streams of refugees from the twotowns met in confusion on what is now Leith Walk. In the wordsof the Scots Magazine, ‘it was a very affecting scene.’ Thecommerce of the city was at a standstill, the Cowgate chockedwith carts and terrified citizens.Faced with such callousness, Charles had no choice but torelent. The blockade was publicly withdrawn, and great protestsmade over the garrison’s behaviour. The Prince was genuinelyastounded by Guest’s willingness to expose the citizens ofEdinburgh to the hazards of war, and was also clearly frustratedby his complete inability to respond. For all their reinforcements,the captured standards, and the hosts of Government prisonersheld in Queensberry House and the Canongate Kirk, the Jacobitearmy did not hold the power in Edinburgh after all. Why the oldgeneral behaved in this manner is unclear. There was no chancethat the fortress would fall to an enemy without siege guns, andthe garrison was well provisioned and unlikely to surrender.Perhaps Guest was simply trying to make up for the lack ofresistance the city had put up. Perhaps he thought the citizenshad been too eager to welcome Charles to the city, and needed awake-up call. Whatever his intentions, he brought the city to ahalt and broke the Jacobite dream: Charles had suffered his firstreverse. As October went on, the cannon fell quiet as the Jacobitearmy prepared to depart. The war was moving south, and thePrince’s court at Holyrood – now enhanced by the presence of anambassador from France – was to pass into memory. On the lastday of October 1745, the occupation of Edinburgh came to end,and the invasion of England began.78

The SoldierThe enemy marched a body of regular troops to attack me; butwhen they came near they chang’d their mind, and, by taking adifferent rout, and making forced marches, have escaped to thenorth, to the great disappointment of my Highlanders. But Iam not at all sorry for it. I shall have the greater glory inbeating them when they are more numerous and supported bytheir dragoons.Charles Edward StuartThe blood that flowed in Charles’ veins was well suited tomilitary adventure: his Stuart ancestors had often been foundwith a sword in their hand. Charles I had proved brave andcapable during the Civil War, his namesake son likewise, andJames II had also distinguished himself in military action whilstDuke of York. His father may never have cut a military figure –his skills lay elsewhere – but Charles’ mother brought him theblood of the Sobieskis. This line recalled King John Sobieski ofPoland, who had destroyed the Turks at the Battle of Vienna in1683 and become a European hero. The young Prince Charles, ashas been seen, was more than aware of this pedigree, and saw hisown role as that of military saviour of the Stuart cause. He hadprepared hard for his war, had gambled everything from itsoutset, and was in no way willing to play the figurehead whilstothers fought for him. Charles was determined that the ’45would be his victory: he would command it and he would win it.Charles’ performance as the commander-in-chief of theJacobite army is a source of some disagreement. One commoninterpretation of the Rising is that the credit for its achievementsshould generally lie with such men as Lord George Murray,whilst the blame for its failings belongs to the Prince. Thisopinion is as sad as it is bizarre. The reality is that Charles was acapable commander, operating in exceptional circumstances, and79

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITdemonstrating considerable skill and courage even in the mosttesting environments. It must be remembered that Charles hadlittle experience beyond his brief spell at Gaeta, and was, ineffect, learning on the job. He was also only twenty-five. Hisrelationship with his subordinates requires close scrutiny later,and there were clearly aspects of personality which hampered theRising, but on the whole Charles comes out of the ’45 prettywell. The bare facts clearly reveal that the Prince was a man whoknew his business, understood what was required of him, and –to a greater extent than any other individual about him –understood that the whole situation was, ‘all or nothing.’In terms of his soldierly responsibilities, Charles had givenhimself the best preparation imaginable. Those long days hikingin the hills around Rome, or shooting thrushes off the rooftops ofthe palazzi, had created a physique that was strong enough torelish the rigours of a military campaign through difficultterritory, in winter. Many of his highlanders, hard menthemselves, were astonished at their leader’s vigour. They cheered,for example, when Charles had to halt the march south toEdinburgh, having worn through the soul of his shoe. He waspushing an impressive pace, which was maintained throughoutthe campaign. Even in the most difficult times in the worst ofweather, as Neil MacEachainn recalled, ‘it was wonderful how hepreserved his health all the time.’ When, in the latter stages of thecampaign, in the depths of an appalling winter and with hishopes crashing around him, Charles succumbed to illness andfatigue, it was a reflection of the extent to which he had pushedhimself, rather than of an inherent weakness. This prince wasphysically strong, blessed with stamina, and the credit for thatlies with his own effort.Charles’ fitness would serve him well – especially when theRising failed – but it also allowed him to make great play ofsharing the discomforts of his men, at a time when such displayswere key in winning their support. A Dundonian observer wroteto an English friend in September that, ‘the Young Chevalier80

T HE S OLDIERaffects the example of Charles XII of Sweden. He marches the wholeday on foot.’ 33 Not only was the Prince deliberately boosting themorale of his highlanders, but he was also clearly promoting animage of himself as a warrior. The image was attracting attention:it was working. Charles XII, incidentally, had been a young kingwho had successfully defended his country against great odds andachieved a string of spectacular victories. In 1718, aged justthirty-six, the king had been killed leading his troops in battleagainst the Norwegians, and his reputation for leading from thefront and being fearless in the fray clearly provided someinspiration for Charles Edward. This behaviour was even moreimportant in a commander who was holding an army togetheralmost entirely out of a sense of loyalty to himself. Charles wasthe glue that held the Cause together, and so he needed tomaintain his own legend. This is why, although all through themarch to Edinburgh the Prince had slept in the great houses thathad lined his path, he did not do so at Tranent. As Ewald wouldlater put it, with a sense of excitement traceable in his pen whichsuitably mirrors the Prince’s own mood at this time, ‘Charlescontented himself with the broad canopy of heaven, a shake-down ofpease-straw, and the shoulder of a highlander for a pillow.’ Althoughclearly done to boost morale, such behaviour was no emptygesture; it shows the Prince as a serious and sensible soldier, whotook his responsibilities as a leader extremely seriously:He never dinn’d nor threw off his cloaths at night, or ate muchat supper, used to throw himself upon a bed at eleven o’clock, &was up by four in the morning. As he had a prodigious strongconstitution, he bore fatigue most surprisingly well.John William O’Sullivan33 Published in The York Courant, 17th & 23rd September 1745. Charles XIIwas remarkable for his achievements in the Great Northern War, achievedat a young age and against impressive odds.81

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITOf course, to really earn the respect and loyalty of his army, it wasvital that Charles not only shared the hardships of the campaign,but the dangers of battle too. The Prince had shown couragewhen at Gaeta, as we have seen, and he had lost none of hisbravery by the time he was leading his own forces in 1745.Throughout the campaign, he proved himself to be a commanderthat led from the front. The same Dundonian quoted earlierpassed on that, ‘every river they have to cross, he’s the first man thatleaps into it,’ a reference to the same youthful enthusiasm thePrince showed when leaping the troublesome ditch in theTranent Meadows in September, during which he stumbled ontohis knees. The result of the fall was noted by Henderson, whenhe saw Charles after the battle of Prestonpans:He was on foot, clad as an ordinary captain in a coarse plaidand large blue bonnet, a scarlet waistcoat with a narrow plaingold-lace about it, his boots and knees were much dirtied.Andrew HendersonEven the Prince’s dress indentifies his attitude to battle. Just as hedressed like his highlanders, so he would fight with them. Beforethe battle, whilst at Duddingston, Charles had expressed hisdetermination to command the front line, and lead the charge inperson. The suggestion was received with protests from theoutraged chiefs, who declared that, ‘defeat or victory was the sameto them,’ if the Prince was exposed to harm. In the face of theirthreats to return home should he not relent, Charles agreed tolead the reserve rather than the main charge – something whichno doubt disappointed his youthful spirit. The leader of ahighland army was expected to share the men’s danger – which iswhy the other chiefs and officers like Murray led their regimentsfrom the front, and also why casualties were generally quite highamongst the Jacobite officers. These officers, therefore, born intoa tradition of martial honour, would have appreciated the Prince’searnest gesture, but also knew full well the folly of him taking82

T HE S OLDIERunnecessary risks. For the soldiers themselves, Charles’ eagernessallowed a powerful sense of mutual trust and association todevelop. On a later occasion, Charles would exclaim: ‘we must dielike brave men, with swords in our hands.’Even denied his chance to lead the charge at Prestonpans,however, Charles fully demonstrated his eagerness to be in thethick of the engagement. At his side on the morning of the battlewas Murray’s aide James Johnstone, who saw the Prince lead thereserve into the fray – an important move considering the gapinghole in the front line:We were not more than fifty paces behind our first line,running always as fast as we could to overtake them, and nearenough never to lose sight of them.James JohnstoneNevertheless, with a sense of frustration no doubt shared withCharles, they charged through the smoke only in order to witnessthe rout of the British army. The action had all happened tooquickly for the men of the reserve to demonstrate their ownprowess, but this does not detract from their valour. Panting withthe exertion of their long charge, hearts pumping with adrenalin,and eyes stinging from the acrid powder fog, Charles EdwardStuart and his men had shared the risks of their first victory andsurvived. As Elcho (somewhat grudgingly) admitted, Charleshad, ‘borne himself well at the head of the second line.’Nor was it just Elcho who noticed Charles’ courage during thewar: Lord George Murray also explicitly stated that, ‘His RoyalHighness had no regard for his own danger, but pressed with all theforce of argument to go forward... he could not think of retreatingafter coming so far.’ Murray, for all his faults, was himself a braveman, at his most likeable when at the head of his men with asword in his hand. Praise from him was praise meant. His aideand supporter, Captain Johnstone, also noted Charles’ keennessfor the fray, and reported:83

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITThe Prince, having acquired a strong relish for battles... wasalways for fighting, and sometimes even reproached LordGeorge for his unwillingness to incur the risk of anengagement.James JohnstoneEven at Culloden, where the Prince’s behaviour has been thesource of so much controversy, misunderstanding, and deliberatemisrepresentation, he clearly showed significant personal courage.Elcho’s reputed cry that he was a damned cowardly Italian –whilst it may well be a phrase fitted to Elcho’s manners – isnotable for its absence in the most reliable and immediate sources(including his own narratives). Charles had many faults, but hewas no coward. Quite the reverse.There is a possibility, often quoted, that Charles found a lot ofhis military boldness from a conviction that his enemy would notactually resist him. Elcho makes much of this trait in Charles’character, expressing that he, ‘believed firmly that the soldiers of theregulars would never dare fight against him as he was their trueprince.’ This belief seemed to be vindicated by the behaviour ofthe government forces at Prestonpans, and the outcome of thatday probably allowed to Charles to gain greater confidence in theabilities of his forces. However, eye-witnesses and evidencealready cited has demonstrated Charles’ tendency to present afacade of optimism for political show; in reality he was fullyconscious of the challenge he faced. Before Prestonpans, forexample, the Prince asked his senior officers whether theybelieved the men could defeat Cope, and although some wereclearly offended by the apparent lack of faith, here is clearevidence that the Prince was taking the odds seriously. He knewthe risks, but he also knew the importance of being seen first toplay them down, and then to share them.Courage is only one part of the successful leader, however, andCharles endeavoured to back up his bravado with genuinemilitary achievement. If many will accept his abilities as a soldier,84

T HE S OLDIERit is more difficult to convince them of his abilities as a general.The successes of the war are often attributed to some factor otherthan the Prince – Murray’s abilities or enemy mistakes, perhaps –and collectively the whole of the Jacobite command team hasbeen repeatedly blasted for its weaknesses. It is easy to imagine apicture of amateur gentlemen playing at soldiers, led by apretending prince who held merely nominal command. Thispicture is, however, completely inadequate.The reality is that Charles had no real military experience, butwas surprisingly skilled and competent, and had prepared for hisrole as well as he could. Beneath him, he had sensibly appointedthe capable O’Sullivan, with a solid military career for Francebehind him, and who was largely responsible for Johnstone’sacknowledgement that, ‘our march was very judiciously planned,and equally well executed.’ He was an extremely competentadministrator, a capable quartermaster, and a seasoned officercapable of arranging the impressive marches which allowed theJacobites to achieve so much. 34 Charles, however, was not simplycontent to allow his officers to command for him. JamesJohnstone’s account hints at the Prince’s prominence in thearmy’s acitivities. Firmly a Murray man, Johnstone had closepersonal contact with the Prince too (serving for a while as hisaide), and attributes certain key actions to Charles’ owndecisions. He states, for example, that when Charles wasinformed of the path that might outflank Cope’s position atPrestonpans, ‘the Prince, having instantly caused the place to beexamined, ascertained that this account was correct.’ At Falkirk,Charles’ generalship was apparently even more crucial: ‘thePrince, extending to the left, took care to preserve this advantage[having the wind to their backs] by corresponding movements onhis part.’ To what extent such activity was truly Charles’ initiative34 Usually the army was divided into separate columns, both to reduce thedependence on single roads and to confuse the enemy as to their strengthand intentions.85

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITis difficult to judge, but we should notice what Johnstone saysabout the march to Falkirk from Stirling:[Charles] immediately marched off without any person in thearmy being able to penetrate his design, particularly as he didnot appear at first to take the roads leading towards the Englisharmy.James JohnstoneWhen combined with the Edinburgh eye-witness who noted thathe was, ‘shewn great Respect by his Forces,’ the attention Charlesclearly gave to the training of his forces at Duddingston, and thesuccessful motions of the columns the Prince led in person – hisfeint down Lauderdale before the rendezvous in the west, forexample – we can see clear indications of Charles Edward’s abilityto command.One of Charles’ big problems was in persuading older andmore experienced officers and witnesses that his instincts werereliable (something which would dog him with increasingseverity through 1745-6). The day before Prestonpans, forexample, Charles demonstrated sound military judgement bycovering the road to Edinburgh with the Atholl Brigade, in orderto prevent Cope from slipping off to the capital during the night.He changed his orders only when others protested, revealingsomething of his difficulties in being both a politican and acommander. O’Sullivan, with the opinion of a professionalofficer, considered that the Prince, ‘behaved as the mostexperienced General, in posting of his Guardes to cover his army,’and thus further affirms that Charles was demonstrating abilitybeyond his experience. He also had moments of discerniblestrategic insight, such as his determination that – since he wasbeing forced to retreat – the army should retreat up the east coastto protect as long as possible the harbour towns at which Frenchassistance could most readily be received. It seems othersdisagreed with this, and only Murray’s column went this route, at86

T HE S OLDIERa pace which does not seem to have appreciated the strategicvalue of the area. 35 Furthermore, at the battle of Falkirk, Charlesordered forward the regular units from the reserve, in order toprevent the British right from exploiting the disorder of his flanks(during their successful rout of the enemy left and centre).O’Sullivan clearly identifies Charles as the initiative behind themove, and he may even have ordered a similar move at Culloden,although the events there are less clear.While these actions, if they were indeed the Prince’s initiatives,are highly commendable, others have been more controversial. Inparticular, Charles has often been criticised for the decision toleave a garrison in Carlisle during the retreat from England. Thecity and castle had fallen with relative ease to the Jacobites inNovember, and would therefore fall all the easier to theprofessional forces now in pursuit of them. The decision has beengiven various motives, including the utterly unfoundedsuggestion that it was revenge against the English for failing torise in support of the cause (the Manchester regiment formed thecore of the garrison). This is nonsense, as is the suggestion thatCharles was psychologically unable to yield this last piece ofEngland. Charles was, in all likelihood, well aware that the citywould fall and that the garrison had no real hopes, but he alsoknew that he needed to delay Cumberland’s pursuit so that thearmy could cross the Esk safely. O’Sullivan explains the strategyclearly: ‘better to sacrefise a party than the whole.’ Although itmight sound cold, this was standard military practice and shouldbe seen in the context of a retreating army faced with a largeswollen river to cross, without the certainty of finding it fordable.Charles was also being advised that Cumberland was marching sofast that he could not have kept with him sufficient cannon totake the castle immediately. The loss of Carlisle – the last city inEngland to suffer a siege – was a sad episode, and the place was35 The region was also the provider of key Episcopalian support for the Cause.It was successfully defended against Loudoun’s forces whilst the mainJacobite army was in England.87

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITdestined to see much blood thereafter, but the decision togarrison it can be clearly understood.A highland army was a notorious beast to drive; constantlyhaemorrhaging men and hard to discipline. Charles EdwardStuart, however, not only kept one actively campaigning throughthe winter season, but also saw its numbers increase (desertionremained a problem, but much of it was temporary and negatedby fresh drafts). He also saw the need to keep his men active, asevidenced by the proactive campaigning that occurred during theearly stages of 1746. This ultimately backfired of course, and if hehad in fact been able to present his full forces at Culloden itmight have been a very different battle. Still, the Prince kept thearmy alive without yielding to the violent temptations thatattracted men to Montrose’s standard a hundred years before(booty was a good motivator for soldiers, but not compatiblewith winning hearts and minds). It is perhaps Charles’ greatestmilitary achievement that he kept his army disciplined andcommitted, whilst enforcing appropriate army regulations andtraining them into a coherent military force. At the same time,the Jacobite army was surprisingly successful in achieving itsobjectives. Charles successfully took Perth and Edinburghwithout resistance, forced Cope to battle on their own terms,invaded England without opposition and captured Carlisle bysiege. Penetrating to within 125 miles of London, in the face ofoverwhelming odds, and then withdrawing with the armycompletely intact was no less impressive. Ruthven Barracks, FortGeorge, and Fort Augustus, all fell to Charles’ army. In balance,major strategic failures included the sieges of Edinburgh andStirling castles, the loss of the east coast harbour towns whichcould supply them from the continent, and of course theinability to achieve the overall campaign objective of a Stuartrestoration. Overall however, Charles led his army through astring of impressive achievements, all the more successfully whilsthe held the initiative. It is too easy to forget that he began withjust a handful of friends and a winning smile.88

T HE S OLDIERIn one crucial respect, Prince Charles clearly stood head andshoulders above all those around him. With an insight deeperthan many have appreciated, and a confidence based equally onpolitical optimism and military realism, he knew that his smallfollowing had but one chance of success. It was the strategy thatcaptured Edinburgh and swept away John Cope, and whichcarried the army over the walls of Carlisle and deep intoDerbyshire. It was the one advantage the Jacobites had gained,and it was virtually all down to Charles: momentum.Charles knew that pressing forward and achieving continuousresults was the key to overawing the Government and to drawingout his more conservative supporters. Unfortunately, his officerswere often equally conservative in their strategies, to the extentthat it sometimes seems as if he and they were fightingcompletely different campaigns. To men such as Murray andLochiel, the task was to hold Scotland and bide time until theFrench committed sufficient troops to swamp southern England.To Charles, it was tout ou rien from start to finish; only a boldstrike could unseat the Elector. It was regime change, not acontinental-style war.It is for this reason that the Prince would not delay inEdinburgh or rest on his laurels after the conquest of Scotland(however partial that might actually have been). It is why he,‘insisted always on advancing,’ as Johnstone put it, and why herushed to face Marshal Wade before the fall of Carlisle. It is alsowhy he, ‘would listen to no advice, and resolved on giving battle, bethe consequences what they might,’ and appeared rash and overzealous:when the Prince closed his ears to the advice of thosearound him, it was not because he was haughty and arrogant –although he was clearly both on plenty of occasions – but becausehe knew he was right. Sadly, Aeneas had become Cassandra andnobody around him shared his belief in the great gamble forLondon. Imagine the young man, so close to his dream and hisdestiny, being torn away from absolute victory by those who didnot believe that it could be achieved. It is for this reason that he89

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITlamented the decision in Derby so loudly, and took it so much toheart that he considered it tantamount to betrayal.For the future he [Charles] would have not more Councils, forhe would neither ask nor take their advice; that he was accountableto nobody but his father; and he was as good as his word.Lord ElchoCharles rejected advice when he became sure that only he trulyunderstood what was at stake. Perhaps his contact with theFrench court had already convinced him that there was no realchance of holding out for them, and perhaps he was betteracquainted with the British Government than to expect that hecould win a protracted war. Whatever insight Charles had, hesensed by the close of 1745 that the men around him did notshare it, and that he was running out of ways of expressing it.The resultant frustration was immense, and the Prince’sdeteriorating relationship with his council reveals that. The greattragedy is that he was probably right, something which he wasconscious of and which haunted him ever after. Whether victorylay ahead of them or not, only defeat could follow retreat.However, even as the momentum passed out of his hands andas control of the war was wrenched from his resistant fingers,Charles Edward Stuart maintained the dignity of his status ascommanding officer. Although he was clearly somewhattruculent during the withdrawal to Scotland, delaying hisdepartures and riding rather than walking, we must not be tooquick to judge. Elcho recalls a telling comment the Prince madeat this time: ‘it was a shame to go so fast in the face of the son of theUsurper.’ Was Charles really sulking, or was he thinking as apolitician? He was proud, young, and undefeated. For a man soclearly committed to the risks of battle that it was considered aflaw, the thought of fleeing without so much as a shot being firedin England was difficult to bear. Sensible as he was, the Princeknew that he could not hand Cumberland his first propaganda90

T HE S OLDIERvictory. If he could not persuade his officers to march on, hecould at least make sure that the retreat did not look like a flight.If the withdrawal had been executed as poorly as that fromStirling would be, then the army would never have made it back.In delaying his person, he delayed the army, and as well asprotecting his cause from lampoons he increased the chances offorcing the battle he so craved. He needed a victory in England,and although he got one at Clifton, even if he was not there tosee it. By holding back the withdrawal, therefore, Charles wasputting a defiant face on retreat, telling his enemies that he wasnot afraid, and demonstrating that his army was doing what itwished, not what it was being forced to do.However frustrated Charles became, and to whatever extent hegenuinely believed he was being betrayed, there is one consistentaspect of his generalship. His anger was vented in private, andamongst those officers it concerned. When he was in front of hismen, the Prince was as careful to conceal his feelings as he was infront of the Edinburgh crowds. As O’Sullivan recalled, ‘he had yttalent superiorly in the greatest concern or denger, its then he appearsmost chearful and harty.’ It was in this that Charles is perhaps athis most attractive, suppressing those hot emotions which he feltso fiercely, for the sake of the morale of those on whom it alldepended.During the war’s endgame, this characteristic is revealed on anumber of occasions. Consider for example the way Charlesbehaved during the failed night march on Nairn. When thePrince discovered that Murray, contrary to instructions andwithout reference to his commander, had begun to withdraw theadvanced column, Charles was inevitably irate. He made everyeffort to discover what was occurring, and then to undo thedisaster which he was foreseeing. When the Duke of Pertharrived, the Prince exclaimed:Good God! What can be the matter? What does this mean? Wewere equal in numbers and could have blown them to the91

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITdevil. Pray, Perth, can’t you call them back yet? Perhaps he hasnot gone too far?Charles Edward StuartHowever, when it became clear that the situation haddeteriorated beyond recovery and that the operation was over,Charles appreciated the demoralising effect the situation wouldsurely be having on the soldiers around him. When he spoke tothem, it was with a voice quite different to that which had sorecently railed at Perth in futile despair:There’s no help for it, my lads, march back. We shall meet themlater and behave like brave fellows.Charles Edward StuartWhen that opportunity came, and as the Jacobite army preparedfor its final and fatal test, the Prince demonstrated the samedetermination to firm up his men. We have already heard thatO’Sullivan believed that Charles was not confident of victory,and Charles’ valet heard him state that, ‘the day is not ours.’Nevertheless, there was no trace of these doubts when heappeared on the field. Personally, the Prince was just as exhaustedand desperate as his men, but he still presented himself with hiscustomary smartness and saw to it that, ‘not the least concernappeared on his face.’ Moreover, O’Sullivan recalls that headdressed the troops in the most eager and stirring terms, worthyof any Shakespearean hero:Here they are comeing, my lades, we’l soon be with them. Theydon’t forget Glads-mur, nor Falkirk, & yu have the same armes& swords, let me see yours... Il answer this will cut of someheads & arms today. Go on, my lads, the day will be ours andwe’ll want for nothing after.Charles Edward Stuart92

T HE S OLDIERO’Sullivan believed the speech successfully heartened the men.Testing the blades of his soldiers, recalling the great achievementsthey had so far put to their names, and speaking in the masculineearthy tone which would most appeal to his highlanders, Charleshad pitched his speech well. Every word must have cut deeplyinto him as he braced the lines for the onslaught he knew wascoming, and which he probably knew could overwhelm them.Sadly, for all he attempted to prepare the men, there was nobodyto prepare Charles for the coming event. He was about to facethe one thing that he had not been able to plan for: defeat. Andyet, devastating as the effects of that battle would be to Charles’mind, he had done all that he could to rectify the unfoldingdisaster. Only when all was clearly lost, his spirit broken and hissenses stunned by the horror of the death of his army, did he quitthe field. “Rally, in the name of God,” he cried. “Pray, gentlemen,return. Pray stand with me, your Prince, but a moment – otherwiseyou ruin me, your country and yourselves; and God forgive you.” Itwas all in vain.Charles has always been credited with charisma and charm,and this was one of his most powerful weapons. His grittydetermination to gamble everything, and his constant intent toforce battle on his enemies, could not have been given voicewithout the personality that stood behind them. He had agenuinely inspiring character which could clearly win people tohis side, and it is this motivational manner that drove the armyforwards during 1745. Just as the words spoken before Cullodenwere important to the army, so were the speeches which ralliedthe men at Glenfinnan and filled their hearts at Prestonpans. Thelatter in fact reveals Charles’ ability to change his rhetoric to suitthe moment, and we should compare the rough, soldierly speechat Culloden quoted above, to the high-blown promises ofPrestonpans: ‘Here is my sword: I have thrown away the scabbard! Ido not doubt that, with the blessing of God, I will this day make ofyou a free and happy people!’ However, unlike at Culloden whereCharles was riding amongst his men recalling that first battle for93

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITthem, he was not in fact amongst his men when he gave hisspeech before Prestonpans. O’Sullivan recalls the Prince’s wordsin a rather less romantic way than the story is usually told. AtDuddingston, Charles concluded his council of war by saying tothe chiefs:Now Gents... the Sword is drawn, it wont be my fault, if I setit in the Scabert before you be a free and happy People. I desireyu may retire to yr postes, inform yr men of what I said &march.Charles Edward StuartThe words that Charles offered were a spur to those officers thatheard them. As a general keen to ensure the spirit of his menmatched his own ardour, he instructed his chiefs to spread thosewords about the army. O’Sullivan recalls that the cheer that rosefrom the regiments when they were told what Charles had saidwas enough to terrify any army who faced them. At Duddingston,then, a second-hand speech was enough to spirit the men,but in April Charles knew that he had to go amongst them with avery different style. He had grown close to his soldiers in thatlong hard winter, and found in them a companionship whichcontrasted with the demeanour of his councillors. Readingbetween the lines at Culloden, the Prince knew in his heart whathis men were about to endure, and could not in good consciencesend them forward without striving to drawn every ounce ofspirit from them first. Both of these speeches show Charles’identification with his men and his awareness of the importanceof their morale, and both reveal the sensitivity he had for themoment. Both were received with cheers and both are said tohave gladdened the hearts of the men. In that much at least theywere both successful.Charles Edward Stuart, then, was a capable man and an ablesoldier. As a commanding general, he may have lacked experiencein active office but he had done all that he could to prepare94

T HE S OLDIERhimself for the role. He was strong and fit, energetic andenthusiastic. His words and his appearance, his willingness toshare both the dress and the toils of his soldiers, and hiscommitment to forging volunteers into a national army, madehim an invaluable presence in the Jacobite army. He held theforce together, and commanded it ably whenever he could do sowithout being thwarted by the inexperience of his men or theinconsistencies of their officers. Charles had able men with him,and he had great need of them, but ultimately he was also unableto control them. The military historian Christopher Duffysummarised Charles recently as a, ‘young man who had thoughtdeeply about war, who had a strong strain of that essential attributeof luck, who kept himself in excellent physical condition, and whoknew what was needed to motivate the ordinary men.’ Somecontemporary narratives, such as those of O’Sullivan and SirJohn MacDonald, went further. As Rawson notes in his 1958introduction to Johnstone’s memoir, some of Charles’ officerswere certain that, ‘if the conduct of the campaign had been leftentirely in the hands of the Prince all would have been well.’95

Victory at PrestonpansThe camp of the enemy was fortified by nature, and in thehappiest position for so small an army.James JohnstoneCharles Edward Stuart looked down from Falside Hill and feltthe frustration build within him. He had brought his army acrossmuch of the length of Scotland, captured the capital without loss,and come within striking distance of the British Army. Now, atthe very moment he had anticipated gaining his crucial victory, itseemed as if he was stumped. It was September 20th 1745, and itwas a face-off.The Jacobite Army had responded rapidly to the news that SirJohn Cope had landed at Dunbar, having been outmanoeuvredin the Highlands. He had marched west towards Edinburgh withhorse, foot and cannon, desperate to recover the initiative in awar that had already ballooned beyond expectations. Charles,equally determined to win a decisive victory, had marched hisarmy from its camp at Duddingston and headed east to confrontthe Government forces. The two armies pressed towards oneanother along a well established military corridor: Cope left twobattlefields behind him as he marched (Dunbar I & II, 1296 and1650), whilst Charles crossed the Roman Bridge at Musselburghas had so many doomed Scots on the way to the fight at Pinkie(1547). The Jacobites passed close to Carberry Hill, where QueenMary had surrendered in 1567. For them, surrounded by suchhistory, anticipation was building. There were ancient scores tobe settled.For Cope, cautious and sensible as any commander, it wastension that was building. Some of the men were alreadyunsettled after the long fruitless march north, and theuncomfortable voyage south again. The highland companies had‘mouldered,’ and their loyalty was suspected. On landing, the96

V ICTORY AT P RESTONPANSinfantry had been joined by the two regiments of dragoons thathad fled from Coltbridge, but far from stiffening the resolve ofthe foot soldiers, they spread exaggerated tales of Jacobitestrength. Their mental state was fragile:An unlucky dragoon... fell into a coal-pit, not filled up, whenhis side-arms and accoutrements made such a noise, as alarmeda body of men who, for two days, had been completely panicstruck.Alexander CarlyleThe situation was not helped by the eager volunteers that hadescaped from Edinburgh, including Carlyle himself who was justa few years younger than Prince Charles. These youths provided afull account of the fall of the capital, and no doubt also of thereception the Pretender had received. Their inexperience couldonly prove a hindrance, as Cope acknowledged by sending themaway on “reconnaissance duties”, and their presence along withcertain Edinburgh officials, can only have enhanced the sense ofcrisis and confusion. Worse still, as the army marched the citizensof East Lothian mingled amongst them in a most unmilitarymanner. Perhaps the women whispered the same discouragingwords into the ears of the regulars as the Edinburgh lasses hadcalled out on the Lawnmarket. The overall result was that thecloser the Government army got to the enemy – a force they stillhad not seen or properly judged – the less confident they became.Carlyle was astonished to find a certain Major Bowles, ‘completelyignorant of the state of the country and of the character of theHighlanders. I found him... credulous, and in the power of everyperson with whom he conversed.’ Colonel Gardiner, who hadperformed with so little distinction in the campaign so far, wasclearly not convinced that his men were in any fit state for battle:I’ll tell you in confidence that I have not above ten men in myregiment whom I am certain will follow me. But we must give97

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITthem battle now, and God’s will be done!Colonel James GardinerGardiner himself was little better off. Lacking confidence in hismen, perpetually unwell, and evidently beyond the prime of hisadmirable military career, he was openly prophesying his owndeath.At least Cope was still in command of his senses. He took hisarmy down the secondary road which hugged the coast, ratherthan the high road which headed through the mining village ofTranent. The decision was based on his assessment of the terrain:the high road was flanked by hedged enclosures and the space fordeployment restricted. If he was confronted by the rebels, theground was unsuitable for his cavalry, whilst the more opencoastal plain offered more opportunities which were to his ownadvantage. When he heard that the Jacobites had crossed the Eskand were certainly coming at him, he chose to make a stand tothe east of the village of Preston.When the Jacobites discovered that Cope was close by, LordGeorge Murray – who claimed to know the country well –instinctively drove his advanced guard up to the high road andTranent. He had not bargained on Cope’s caution. The Princeand the rest of the army struggled up after the van, only to findthemselves looking down upon their enemy, from the onlydirection from which they could not attack them. Cope shiftedhis battle line to face south, and a day of dancing began.The area which which was about to become PrestonpansBattlefield was bordered by settlement on each side. Thenorthern boundary was marked by the Firth of Forth, with thecoastal villages of Prestonpans to the west, named for its saltpanning industry, and Cockenzie to the east, from which thelocal coal was exported. South of the harbour village was thesmall cluster of properties surrounding Seton Castle, marking theeastern edge. Tranent dominated the southern perimeter,mounted on the top of Falside Hill, and separated from the rest98

V ICTORY AT P RESTONPANSof the field by the Tranent Meadows, a boggy morass, and adrainage ditch on its north side. Between Tranent andPrestonpans sat the ancient settlement of Preston, boasting twofine manors (Northfield and Hamilton Houses), a ruinedmedieval keep (Preston Tower), and the fine enclosed estates ofPreston House and Bankton, the home of Colonel Gardinerhimself. In the middle of all this stood General Cope and theBritish Army. No contemporary source quite captured the scenethat day as well as Norie later would:The afternoon was gloriously fine, no clouds obscured the sun’sbright rays or cast a shadow of gloom over the beautifullandscape which lay in front of the Highlanders’ position; faraway across the blue Forth rose the distant hills of Fife, dimlyseen through the autumn haze; quiet fishing villages, withwhite-washed red-tiled cottages, were dotted here and there onthe margin of the coastline; to the right the Bass Rock swamupon a sea of azure, and the Berwick Law raised its conicalsummit; to the left Arthur’s Seat raised its quaintly outlinedform against the western sky, enshrouded in the blue reek of thegreat city at its base; and almost at their feet, bathed in thewarm glow of the golden September sun, great stretches ofyellow stubble fields from which the corn had been newlyreaped. 36As Charles and his men soaked up this view, the strength of theenemy dispositions was all too clear. Cope was facing them acrossthe Meadows, with the ditch and then the morass to his front.On his right, the road bottlenecked between the park walls ofPreston and Bankton, and the clustered houses prevented aneffective assault from the west. To add to the problem, theground between the Jacobites and the Meadows was littered withopen coal pits and enclosure perimeters. Charles wanted to close36 Norie (1901): II, 77-8.99

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITon Cope as soon as possible, but there was no obvious way athim.Whilst the difficulties of attacking were abundantly clear, thePrince was all too aware that the face-off could prove a seriousdisadvantage to him. It was difficult to maintain discipline withthe enemy in sight, and avoiding battle was not in thehighlanders’ mindset. The worst case scenario was dreadfulindeed: if night fell, Cope could strike out for Edinburgh andretake the capital, leaving Charles isolated and humbled, andwith few sensible options. Accordingly, the Prince ordered theAtholl Brigade, which was to form the army’s reserve, to take up aposition to the west of Preston, closing the road to Edinburgh.Cope observed all these movements – Carlyle was up the tower ofhis father’s church in Prestonpans reporting with appropriatethoroughness – and anticipated a threat from that direction.Breaches were made in some of the park walls to allow easierresistance, and he turned his battle line to face the perceivedassault. The highlanders would be cut to pieces as they emergedfrom these bottlenecks.Little did Cope know, but there were ugly scenes unfoldingamongst his enemies on Birsley Brae. Murray had discovered thedeployment of the Athollmen, and allowed himself a tantrumhardly worthy of his position. Throwing his gun to the ground,he threatened not only to resign his commission but never toserve in any capacity whatsoever, unless the brigade waswithdrawn. All this, according to O’Sullivan, was said, ‘in a veryhigh tone.’ Charles, although aware of the lack of propriety beingdisplayed, chose to avoid calling Murray’s bluff and offered toconcede, showing what O’Sullivan called, ‘his ordinary prudence.’All this movement, occurring in the face of a hostile force, doesnot impress as to the professional competence of the Jacobitearmy. To Cope, it was simply confusing. As the Jacobitesconcentrated at Tranent, he again changed his frontage and faceddirectly south.The tension was building now on both sides: the Jacobites100

V ICTORY AT P RESTONPANSwere frustrated at the impossibility of getting to grips with theenemy; the Government forces wearied from their constantmanoeuvring and by the fact that the initiative seemed to lie withCharles. Cope was just reacting, whilst the Prince, it seemed tothem, was probing for weaknesses.The north face of Tranent is dominated by the church, whichhas a large graveyard fronted by a stout retaining wall with heftybuttresses. This position, well fortified and easily defensible,flanked by a deep ravine (through which ran a waggonway toCockenzie harbour), stood forward of the Jacobite line. In linewith the established military practice, O’Sullivan identified thechurchyard as a sensible outpost for protecting the Jacobiteposition. If there was no chance of launching an immediateattack that day, then the army should prepare to defend itsposition. Accordingly, the Prince authorised him to position anumber of Camerons in the yard, establishing it as a strongpoint.Unfortunately, he had not bargained on their indiscipline. Whena government patrol probed towards their position, thehighlanders opened fire, their muskets cracking from amongstthe trees and behind the walls. Their ragged shots achievednothing – the patrol escaped – other than revealing their positionto the loyalists. Cope seized the chance to score some points andcheer his men, and his galloper guns were ordered up. Severalmen were wounded. Although the damage was but little, Murrayand Lochiel protested against exposing the Camerons to suchtreatment, and the unit was withdrawn:Recalling the detachment from the Church yard he [Charles]marched his army eastward by the town of Tranent and drewup in one line opposite the flank of the enemy.John Murray of BroughtonThe firing was a result of the mutual frustration and theincreasingly taught atmosphere that covered both armies. Insultswere exchanged across the no-man’s land, and both sides watched101

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITfor signs that the other was plotting something. But it was animpasse, and night fell with nothing achieved. The night before abattle, especially after such a day as this, never brings much rest.That Friday night, the opponents lay within sight of one another,catching the sounds of each others’ campfire discussions on thebreeze. It was also known that highlanders held artillery in awe,and events in the churchyard might have helped reinforce this, soCope decided he could further wound Jacobite morale. Hebrought up his coehorn mortars with the intention of shellingTranent, keeping the enemy awake and terrorising their nightwith destruction and disorientation. It must have sounded like agood plan – it was a common enough tactic – but the shells failedto explode: they had been, ‘damnified,’ by damp storage. Theshells that were fired plopped harmlessly to earth, as the planliterally fizzled out. When the dogs of Tranent began barkederratically, it was the Government forces who began to feelunsettled.As the Jacobite army settled itself down for the night, itseemed that their only hope was to march in a great loop east tobypass the Meadows, a move which would leave Edinburgh toCope’s rear. This was far from ideal, but as long as Cope agreed tofight then it would be the best chance of success. In the camp,however, was one Robert Anderson of Whitburgh whose father –a veteran of the ’15 – was the owner of nearby WesterWindygoul. As locals, the Andersons knew the area inside outand Robert was accustomed to shooting in the Meadows. Hereported to Hepburn of Keith that there was a passage around themorass which would bring the army out near Seton, through anarrow defile past the farm at Riggonhead. If the army movedquickly, and quietly, then they could form up to the east ofCope’s camp and launch an attack over the flat stubble fields. Theplan was not without risk: if the defile was defended at the northend, the army would be caught in a trap. Hepburn saw the valueof Anderson’s information, and the commanders were awakened.Charles was settling down to snatch some sleep, wrapped in a102

V ICTORY AT P RESTONPANSplaid and out in the open with his men. Cope was also encampedwith his men, and suggestions that he was sound asleep inCockenzie House are malicious. When the Prince heardAnderson’s report he could hardly be restrained, and the plan wassoon set in motion. The small troop of 40-50 cavalry theJacobites had gathered were left behind, for fear that theirmotions would too easily be heard. Even Charles would go in onfoot, the anticipation of the coming battle overcoming hisfrustration at being obliged to stay with the reserve. The armypassed through Tranent, waking the dogs, and descended into theblack emptiness of the Riggonhead defile. Strict silence wasenforced, although the intention was not to surprise the enemyin their beds, but rather to cause them to give battle on Jacobiteterms.Charles went into the defile with the Athollmen. Ahead ofhim went the Duke of Perth leading the MacDonalds in the van,and Lord George controlling the units which would become theleft wing. The air was visibly lightening, although dawn was stillsome time off, whilst every step of the foot seemed to produce animmense sound sure to betray them. The Prince remainedbuoyant, and as the army reached the drainage ditch, he leaptacross it. It was a formidable obstacle, and he stumbled onto hisknees. An omen? Johnstone thinks the Prince feared so, but if hedid he soon put it from his mind. Of far more concern was thecry of a British sentry. As they had been ordered, nobodyresponded, but two and a half thousand men cannot march insilence. The sentries were alert, and word flew to the camp. Agalloper fired, splitting the stillness, and the Government troopsrushed to arms.Emerging onto the fields immediately west of Seton just as daythreatened to break, the Duke of Perth had to judge the distancehis army would need to deploy. Murray, bringing up the lastregiments of the front line, needed to anchor them against theditch to protect the flank. These two requirements left theJacobite army split in two, as Perth moved too far north and a103

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITgap developed. As Charles led the reserve into position behindthem, however, the hole was fotunately indiscernible to theenemy in the east. It was a lucky chance, for Cope had in hiscavalry the very thing he would have needed to either exploit thatspace, or the open flank if the Jacobite wings attempted to close itup.The British Army meanwhile had rushed to position, Copeably forming a full battle line facing west, and marching farenough forward to put the Tranent-Cockenzie waggonwayimmediately behind them. 37 The sentries on duty had not thetime to rejoin their regiments and thus formed a separate unit ofpicquets on the right. There was also no time to disperse thecannon amongst the infantry line, and so they too wereconcentrated on the right. As a result, the right wing extended tothe Meadows ditch and there was no room for Gardiner’sdragoons to deploy fully. Nevertheless, with his infantry information, his guns primed, and his cavalry divided over theflanks, with holding companies back in reserve, Cope was ready.The ground was suitably flat for his cavalry, his cannon had aclear range, and it had all been done before the enemy attack hadbegun. Cope had done his duty.The Jacobite assault began on the left, with the Camerons.Murray sent word to Perth that he was going to attack, whilstPerth sent word to Murray that he was ready and formed. Themessengers met in the middle, and it was left to Perth to respondto the Cameron charge. Soon the whole Jacobite line was surgingforwards, and Charles launched the reserve immediately on itstails.The soldiers of the British army searched nervously throughthe early morning haze, a coastal haar still lingering over the field.For many men on each side, this was their first taste of battle.37 Were the waggonway ahead of them it may have impeded movement,especially of the cavalry. Recent archaeology has made it fairly clear that themain British line was probably east of the obstacle, before being drivenback across it.104

V ICTORY AT P RESTONPANSThe distant shadows were barely discernable at first, but thesound came rolling towards them like a wave; indistinct but clear,the rumbling roar of a mass of men, driven forwards by fervour,adrenaline, and love of a cause. Back amongst their own lines,orders were now barked by familiar voices, and Brown Bessmuskets snapped into position. The drill they had all so oftenpracticed now felt awkward, somehow distant in the memory.On Cope’s right, the first signs of difficulty had already shownthemselves: poorly trained and ill-motivated, the gun crews brokeaway from their cannon as the pounding brogues came closer.Although Griffiths was alone with the guns he commanded, theywere loaded and ready, barrels stuffed with grape and canisterdesigned to blast like shotguns into the massed Jacobite ranks.And there they were, bursting through the mist in an instant,dense clusters of men. The touch-pieces were lit; the five cannonblew forth their charges. One stood silent, as it had not beenreloaded since it fired the signal.Their great guns... were followed by a very regular fire of thedragoons on the right and left, and this again by closs platoonsof all their infantry, which our men received with intrepidityand an huzza.Alexander MacDonaldSeveral Jacobites went down as the cannon shot whistled throughtheir ranks, and at the sound of the guns the charge seemedalmost to falter. But, tugging down their bonnets, the rankssurged on regardless. These guns had shed first blood yesterday,and so the Camerons thus had vengeance to spur them on. As theJacobite line came into view, the British infantry fired by platoon,creating a constant ripple of fire that, traditionally, would bereturned by an equally steady roll of shot from their enemy. Butthis was not a French army they faced, and within moments thesoldiers’ world was a world of chaos.During the charge, a number of things happened. The105

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITJacobite left clustered into small compact columns of men. Theright, lagging behind, was spreading out. The MacGregors on theleft of Perth’s brigade inclined to their left to close the gap in thecentre, whilst on the extreme right, it became clear that theMacDonalds had outflanked their opponents. O’Sullivanexclaimed: ‘Let the MccDonells [of Clanranald] come to the hedge,we have out wing’d them!’ Hamilton’s dragoons, who ought tohave been able to threaten the Jacobite right, were astonished tofind the roles reversed. And then, contrary to commonmisconceptions, the highlanders returned the redcoats’ fire.I gave the word of command to my squadron to charge into themiddle of them, but most unluckily half a moment after that Ihad my left arm shattered by a musket ball.Lieutenant Colonel Whitney, Gardiner’s DragoonsThe extent of Jacobite musket fire is hinted at by Whitney’sunlucky experience, and also by recent archaeological discoverieson the field. Traditionally, a highland front rank was composed ofits best equipped gentlemen, with broadsword, targe and pistol.Behind them flooded those with poorer weaponry, ready toprovide the weight to drive the charge through the enemy line.Some, especially the MacGregors, were armed with scythesattached to staffs, creating crude Lochaber axes. These wereweapons for close quarter fighting. After giving fire, then, theJacobites fell on.The Jacobite charge struck home, a rolling impact smashinginto Cope’s red ranks in a sweeping wave from south to north.The moment was marked by a distinct change in the sounds ofthe battle. Suddenly, the crashing boom of ordered volleys –which drowned all else – ceased, and was replaced by theimmense shudder as the great weight struck against the Britishlines; the static line buckled as it received the shock. In an instantthe noise welled up again, the guttural roars of physical straintearing above the many sounds of clashing armaments, and the106

V ICTORY AT P RESTONPANSdull thumps of blows struck home with ferocious might. Hereand there muskets discharged, and pistols blasted into faces atpoint blank range.On Cope’s extreme left, the Camerons rushed over thecannons, the artillery guard already in flight ahead of them, andthreatened to open the Government flank. The whole line wasengaged in a matter of mere moments, and all sense of orderquickly collapsed. Ranks were disordered and splintered, officers– like Whitney – falling out of sight. In the chaos, shouting overthe impossible tumult and straining through coarse smoke andsprays of blood and sweat, the battle hung in the balance forseveral crucial minutes. The Jacobites had played their only card,and it was time to respond. Cope rode along his lines screaminghis exhortations to valour. He still had one major advantage: thecavalry. A counter-charge by horse now, on the committed flanksof the highland foot, and the day could be saved. If the linebroke, there were squadrons of dragoons in reserve to plug thegaps.The horse, however, failed to act. Although firing their piecesinto the Jacobite ranks, Gardiner’s dragoons could not beinduced to advance. Unable to manoeuvre on the right, with theditch and the guns obstructing their movement, they werefurther disconcerted by the flight of the gun crews and artilleryguards. The picquets soon were in complete disorder, and theCameron charge was bloody and effective. Exhausted from thedays of bad news, false alarms and discouraging strategies, theuntried horses terrified by the bellows of the cannons and thescreams of war, the cavalry were now faltering. When LieutenantColonel Whitney fell, the dragoons lost what little that was left oftheir spirit. As their front rankers shied backwards, the rearsensed failure and began to break. The reserve squadron followed.On the far left flank, in the face of the MacDonalds, Hamilton’sDragoons endured something very similar, with identical results.The infantry flanks were crumbling too, deprived of thesupport they had expected. His front momentarily free from107

VALOUR DOES NOT WAIThighlanders, one officer sensed that the line was fracturing anddetermined to rotate his firing line to his right. It could havestemmed the tide. Overwhelmed by the heat of the battle, hismouth dry and his world fluid and awhirl about him, he fluffedhis order, telling them to rotate left. Already shocked by thehorrors around them, his astonished men heard the mistake.Some simply ignored it, others wheeled as instructed, puttingtheir back to the enemy. In seconds, all had lost faith in the fight.Just as the Jacobite charge had rolled in south to north, so theBritish infantry line began to disintegrate along that same axis.Colonel Gardiner, at last finding the spirit that had failed himsince he abandoned the Forth fords, attempted to rally a parcelof infantrymen – his cavalry were long gone. Struck by balland lochaber, the Colonel fell beneath the solitary thorntreewhich stood on the field. As the foot routed, the Jacobites surgedon after them, the reserve now in close support. The battle wasover.All possible Methods were taken to bring them back from thefirst Instant they began to run. I endeavour’d all I could torally them, but to no Purpose.General Sir John CopeThe terror, however, had barely begun. The rout from thebattlefield took Cope’s men over the waggonway and across aspread of open ground. There the scene changed dramatically.The terrified foot soldiers suddenly found themselves trapped.The bottleneck that had once been to their front, the roadthrough Preston, had become their death trap. The lane betweenthe two park walls was blocked up by the retreating dragoons, aswere the breaches they had made the day before. Pinned againstthe high walls of Preston House, the men were now completely atthe mercy of the highlanders. And highlanders, swords slick andhearts pumping, were like hounds unleashed.108

V ICTORY AT P RESTONPANSThe Highlanders made a terrible slaughter of the enemy,particularly at the spot where the road begins to run betweenthe two enclosures, as it was soon stopped up by the fugitives.James JohnstoneUsing a mixture of threats and appeals, helped by the exhaustionwhich now set in to calm the adrenaline, the Jacobite officers atlast managed to restrain their men. The bloody fury began toabate, as the broken remnants of Cope’s army were rounded upand taken prisoner. The general himself, withdrawing to Prestonas his army collapsed around him, found the dragoons hadmanaged to gather together in some number beyond the parkwalls, but when they refused to return to the fray he fled south intheir company. Through no real fault of his, he had led his mento disaster.For Charles, there was much still to do. Panting from his ownrun with the reserve, he soon set about bringing order to thechaos. Lord George sent orders to Cockenzie, where Sir PatrickMurray was protecting the British Army’s baggage with aboutthree hundred highland loyalists. After just a token resistance,they yielded to the generous summons:Tell them that if they immediately surrender as prisoners of warthey should be treated as such, if not they would beimmediately attack’d and no quarter given.Lord George MurrayThus the Prince’s Cause was boosted by the receipt of ahandsome war chest of £4,000, as well as Cope’s supply ofpowdered chocolate (later sold as snuff by highland soldiers).Surgeons were sent for and prisoners tallied. Officers were givenparole, and all that was reasonable was done for the wounded.Bankton House became a field hospital whilst its owner,Gardiner, was evacuated from the field and taken to TranentManse where he soon died. He has since become a hero of the109

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITbattle, the only candidate from amongst Cope’s forces. It was hisgood fortune not to have to face the Board of Inquiry thefollowing year alongside his colleagues. He would have had muchto answer for.It was at this point that Andrew Henderson saw Charles, ‘cladas an ordinary captain,’ and still showing the mud on his kneesfrom his stumble that morning. He spoke personally to themedical orderlies, instructing them to treat the highlandwounded first but not to neglect the others afterwards. To hisofficers he gratefully promised that, ‘he’d never forget theirbehaviour yt day.’ Only after all this had been seen to – severalhours after the battle had begun – did he consent to take therefreshment being forced upon him, at which point Sir JohnMacDonald spotted him taking a snack whilst leaning againstCope’s captured cannons. Henderson saw him too, and spreadthe malicious misrepresentation that he callously took a heartybreakfast amongst the bodies of the fallen. Although moderate inhis manner and sensitive in his behaviour, Charles was alsoappropriately congratulatory with his chiefs and officers. Heclasped hands and slapped shoulders, and well he might: they hadwon him Scotland. Even by mid-afternoon Charles was still onthe field, and having set everything in motion he set off forPinkie House. He soon wrote to the King telling him of thevictory:If I had obtained this victory over foreigners my joy would havebeen compleat. But as it is over Englishmen, it has thrown adamp upon it that I little imagined. The men I have defeatedwere your Majesty’s enemies it is true, but they might havebecome your friends.Charles Edward StuartThe Battle of Prestonpans, after a month of campaigning and along day of manoeuvring, had been swift to the point of theextraordinary. It probably lasted about half an hour, perhaps a110

V ICTORY AT P RESTONPANSlittle more, although some estimates are as little as fifteenminutes. For some, it felt like a lifetime, but many of therecollections are so vague and chaotic that for many more itseemed as if it had all happened at once. Cope had taken 2100infantry and 570 horsemen onto the field. Of these, 1500 werenow Jacobite prisoners. About three hundred were dead. Charles,on the other hand, out of the 2300 men he led through theRiggonhead defile, had lost but forty. Had his reserve remainedon the Edinburgh road as Charles had originally suggested,perhaps none of Cope’s army would have escaped, and had hissmall cavalry unit committed itself once the rout had begun evenmore might have been captured. Nevertheless, the victory wasoutstanding, and to the Prince it was a vindication of his Causeand of his leadership. He had proven himself, and so had hisarmy. Now, with the capital in his hands and a devastating defeatinflicted on a regular army, he had raised the stakes. It really wasall or nothing from here.The scene on the field that day was truly dreadful. Although itwas not a large battle, nor a long one, and although it could notcompete with the bloody fields of the continental wars in scale,the battlefield was remarkable for its grisly spectacle. The crudeweapons of the highlanders had reaped a dreadful harvest, andthe scatter of men, limbs and equipment across this protoindustriallandscape made for an awful sight. Historians andwriters saw it, as did the local poet Skirving who was mugged bya highlander for his curiosity. So close to Edinburgh, it wouldbecome something of tourist site in time, with Walter Scott’shelp. But on that extraordinary day, September 21st 1745, itlooked as Johnstone recalled it:The field of battle presented a spectacle of horror, being coveredwith heads, legs, arms and mutilated bodies; for the killed allfell by the sword.James Johnstone111

Living with MurrayLord George Murray was a man with excellent Jacobitecredentials. He had been born near Perth in 1694, and wastherefore not advanced in his years when he chose to fight in theRising of 1715. When the Jacobites tried again, Murray and hisbrother Tullibardine were back in the fray, and exercisedconsiderable influence: as O’Sullivan relates, ‘he [Murray] was aBrigadier in the year 19.’ Having been wounded in the Glenshieldebacle, and driven onto the continent after the Rising’s failure,his background as a Stuart loyalist was solidly evidenced. It istherefore hardly surprising that Lord George Murray joinedPrince Charles in 1745. Why then, when he arrived to do justthat, was the young Prince warned that Murray was, ‘one of hisgreatest enemies’?Murray’s involvement in the Rising is extraordinary in that hecan be viewed simultaneously as one of the Jacobites’ greatestassets, but also as their most destabilising influence. Therelationship between Charles as Commander and Murray asLieutenant-General was to have an immense impact on thedevelopment of their campaigns, and would end in the Prince’sconviction that he had been betrayed. Here were two men onwhom everything depended, but who could barely conceal theirdistrust of one another. Furthermore, their relationship came torepresent another very significant division in the Jacobitecommand team – the Scots versus the Irish.The Irish had suffered for the Stuarts every bit as much as theScots, and both nations had seen large numbers of their sonshead into exile on the continent. Communities from both foughtin the armies of France and Spain, as well as serving King James.The Irish were well represented in the exiled Jacobite court, andthey were of significant value in the ‘45. It is also too easy toforget the Irish soldiers who covered the Jacobite rout atCulloden and permitted so many to escape. It is also easy to112

L IVING WITH M URRAYoverlook the fact that of the famous Seven Men of Moidart, onlytwo were Scots and one was English, whilst the rest were Irish.One of these men was John William O’Sullivan, and just as LordGeorge Murray would come to represent the Scots voice inCharles’ ear, so O’Sullivan represented that of the Irish.Born in County Kerry, O’Sullivan (or Sullivan as he tends tostyle himself) was in his mid-forties by the time he met Charlesin Paris. He had been sent by his parents to train for the Catholicpriesthood, but instead he had taken up arms in French servicebefore joining Charles’ household shortly before the departure forScotland. Militarily he was experienced and capable, and he wasalso, importantly, one of Charles’ closest and most loyal friends.Unfortunately, Murray found him to be something of anannoyance, an obstacle to his own influence, whilst in returnO’Sullivan found Murray virtually impossible to work with.Their incompatibility was an immense problem for the Prince,and Charles became increasingly at a loss as to how to deal withthese kinds of division, and with Lord George.From Charles’ point of view, the Irish had always been friendsto him in his youth, and he clearly trusted O’Sullivan and hisabilities. Furthermore, Charles was determined that the Risingshould encompass all three of his father’s kingdoms. 38 From thepoint of view of some of his Scottish officers, however, the Irishwere a negative influence whom the Prince trusted toounquestioningly, and who spoke only as a minority group. TheScots, however, were shouldering all the risks, and thereforedeserved the greater say. Most did not see the war in Charles’broader context. This mutual antagonism colours our sources asmuch as it did the attitudes and behaviour of the men on theground. It went both ways, as Brigadier Stapleton of the Irish38 The Jacobite army actually came close to achieving this: highland andlowland Scots forming the main body; Irish regiments from French servicesuch as FitzJames’ horse, Dillons etc; and the Manchester Regiment torepresent England. Ratios were, of course, somewhat imbalanced. Therewas support in Wales, also.113

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITPicquets demonstrated when he commented, shortly before thebattle of Culloden, that, ‘the Scots are always good troops till thingscome to a crisis.’ Sadly, he was being all too prophetic: he wasmortally wounded covering the highlanders’ retreat. AnotherIrish officer, Sir John MacDonald, believed that the Scotsintended Charles to become dependent on them alone, and thusin their debt forever after. They had, he reminds us, attemptedsomething similar with King Charles II.After the ’45 Rising collapsed, as is so often the case in suchcircumstances, there was a rush to shift blame and to seek explanations.As a result, many Scots sources find the Prince’s Irish advisorsto be easy scapegoats, and it is from this that the tradition developsthat Charles was easily-led, by incapable Irishmen, none of whom astake in the outcome. Johnstone, for example, says, ‘the Princeblindly adopted their [the Irish’s] opinions,’ clearly marking this as aflaw in the leadership. And in slighting the Irish and denyingO’Sullivan his due, this tradition also tends to highlight thequalities of Lord George Murray. Whilst Irish sources lamentMurray’s involvement, Johnstone prefers to think that if Charleshad slept all year and left Murray in command, he would haveawoken with a crown upon his head. In such circumstances, it isnot surprising that the surviving witness statements are riddledwith division, hostility, and contradiction.Murray’s behaviour – and indeed O’Sullivan’s – throughout theRising, is bound to forever remain contentious as topics fordiscussion, and perhaps the historian is doomed to take sides. Themost important thing, however, is that Charles Edward Stuart,whose abilities have already been established, could not warm toMurray, nor could he trust him. Charles needed both O’Sullivanand Lord George, as they each came with extensive militaryexperience: the former particularly versed in continental guerrillawarfare, whilst Murray also held great influence amongst theAthollmen and the highlanders in general. Good subordinates are,however, only of an advantage when they behave in a mannerwhich is both consistent and appropriate, and unfortunately114

L IVING WITH M URRAYpersonalities became too prominent during the ’45, at the expenseof good policy. For Charles, it was his most grievous affliction.Murray joined the Prince’s army after its arrival in Perth inearly September, and was appointed to high office, second onlyto the Duke of Perth himself (Murray’s social senior). Perhapsrecognising the Duke’s complete lack of experience, Murrayengineered that he be given equal rank, and the two men nowbecame jointly the most senior officers beneath the Prince’sperson. However, right from the very beginning of his associationwith the Prince, their relationship was endangered. Immediatelybehind Murray came a gaggle of fussy individuals bent onwarning the Prince that the new arrival was really a saboteur.The woman told me she had come on purpose to warn HRHthat Lord George was one of his greatest enemies. I asked herwhat proof she had of this and she told me that she had knownhim for many years for a scoundrel... twice Lord George hadprevented her from being admitted to the Prince, knowing thatshe was aware of his doings. She begged me therefore to reportall this to the Prince, because she was convinced, as were manyothers also, that this man would betray us and would cause theruin of the party and of his fellow Scots.Sir John MacDonaldBoth O’Sullivan and Sir John MacDonald (both Irish officers inforeign service) recorded the intelligence of Murray’s apparenttreachery. The accusation was largely based on the fact thatMurray had been living quite politely amongst Whiggish society.His earlier pardon had been due to his brother Atholl’s influence,this being the de facto chief who held the title actively, on accountof the older brother, Tullibardine, being attainted. 39 Lord George39 The official pardon for Murray’s earlier Jacobite activities is still visible inBlair Castle, hanging alongside a number of important portraits of bothhimself and his Prince. Some of Murray’s possessions are displayed elsewherein the castle, including his spectacles, his bible, and his white cockade.115

VALOUR DOES NOT WAIThad settled comfortably in his brother’s estates, and was known inthe circle of Forbes of Culloden, that most troublesome anti-Jacobite operator. All this might not be unexpected consideringthe interval since the last rising, but less defensible to the Jacobitehardliners was the fact that just days before joining Charles,Murray had met up with General Sir John Cope. The generalhad, perhaps hoping to secure his loyalty, appointed Lord Georgeas deputy sheriff. The Prince’s informants claimed that Murrayhad even begun raising the Athollmen for King George, althoughthe men mistook this recruitment drive as being for PrinceCharles’ army, and melted away when the realised their leader’strue intentions. The reality is that Murray was stuck in a delicatesituation, weighing up his options, and that any injury done wasto Sir John Cope, whose faith Murray betrayed. Once the Risingarrived in his locale, his Jacobite sympathies restored his truevigour. Nevertheless, the idea that the Prince was betrayed byMurray has lingered on in the minds of some –the Prince was tobecome convinced of it – and it is certain that Murray must carrysome of the responsibility for the ultimate failure of the ’45. It was,however, pride rather than treachery for which he is culpable.The Rising had achieved its early successes, such as raising theStandard, dodging Cope and capturing Perth, without the aid ofLord George Murray. He was of course to become a key mover ineverything that occurred subsequently. Like many of the Prince’sofficers, Murray was abandoning a happy family and risking lifeand fortune – not for the first time – for this Cause. However, hewas not fighting the same kind of war that Prince Charles was,and he never shared the Prince’s vision of a rapid regime changeborne by a national uprising. Instead, Murray was committed toa campaign which secured Scotland and then held on until largescale foreign assistance was received. So from the outset of theirrelationship, Charles and Murray were approaching things fromvery different angles.Nevertheless, the Prince received Murray with grace andoffered him the highest possible rank within days of his arrival,116

L IVING WITH M URRAYand without any demonstration of his abilities. Murray’sreputation, his influence in Atholl, and his previous Jacobitecredentials, were his only commendations. His personality wasalso powerful, however, and he seems to have been a man capableof persuading others of his value. Perhaps it is telling that theprofessional soldiers tended to be less keen on Murray’sinvolvement than his own Scots officers. An important point tonotice here is that some of the most influential accounts of the’45 come from Murray’s circle of friends, especially the narrativesof Elcho and Johnstone. Both came under his wing shortly aftertheir arrival on the scene, young Johnstone arriving at a similartime to Lord George, and Elcho just before the fall of Edinburgh.Both men play down the Prince’s abilities and praise Murray’s,just as O’Sullivan tends to do the reverse. James Johnstone, therenegade son of an Edinburgh merchant, was certainly impressedby Murray’s bearing: ‘nature had formed him for a great warrior; hedid not need the accidental advantage of birth.’ In case we were inany doubt as to their association, Johnstone tells us that Murraywas resistant to his transfer to the Duke of Perth’s Regiment, afterserving as Murray’s aide-de-camp. 40 When Lord Elcho first joinedthe Prince, he recalls that the first piece of advice he was givenwas, ‘amongst other things, to be on my guard with Lord GeorgeMurray, who he [the Prince] knew had joined him with theintention of betraying him.’ Clearly Charles had been informed ofthe visit Sir John MacDonald had received in Perth, and equallyclear is that Elcho promptly ignored the Prince and became closeto Murray regardless. Perhaps he could empathise with him,having contacts in both camps himself.In many ways Murray and Charles were men of similartemperaments. They were both brave and committed, proud to40 Johnstone says he transferred because the duties of ADC were wearing himto the point of exhaustion. He joined Perth’s as a captain, but was thengiven control of part of the baggage and artillery train. This involved evenmore tiring duties than those he had attempted to escape!117

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITthe point of stubborn, and determined to inspire the men undertheir command. Johnstone speaks highly of Murray’s spirit inbattle, as do most sources, recalling his words at Prestonpans:“I do not ask you, my lads, to go before, but merely to followme” – a very energetic harangue, admirably calculated to excitethe ardour of the highlanders, but which would sometimeshave had better effect in the mouth of the Prince.James JohnstoneClearly Johnstone had not heard the Prince’s address atDuddingston, or had not been present during the debates inwhich Charles was obliged to stay with the reserve by the will ofhis chiefs. Fortunately, he was not completely blind to Murray’sfaults and admits that he was, ‘proud, haughty, blunt andimperious, he wished to have exclusive disposal of everything and,feeling his superiority, would listen to no advice.’ This is the side ofMurray’s character that causes the problems. He was absolutelyconvinced that he was the only man capable of commanding theJacobite army and, more dangerously, he was also capable ofconvincing others of the same. This quickly led to frictiondeveloping between Murray and the professional soldiers (mainlythe Irish), who saw him as an obstructive amateur acting oninstinct rather than through a knowledge of military strategy andprocedure.This early friction came to a head at Tranent, on the 20thSeptember 1745. Murray had commanded the vanguard of thearmy, making much of his knowledge of the area, and hadsuccessfully led the army into a position from which he could notattack the enemy. His march had been risky, as he rushed upFalside Hill so fast that the rest of the army was barely able tofollow. 41 The sense in taking the high ground is obvious, and it is41 A more intuitive commander than Cope might have been able to exploitsuch disorder with his cavalry.118

L IVING WITH M URRAYno fault of Murray’s that he found Cope’s position unassailable.However, according to O’Sullivan, he now seems to have kept hishead down, perhaps out of an unawareness of what next to do.Apparently he, ‘did not open his mouth all day long, but wentwherever he was led.’ This unusual shyness, however, came to anabrupt end when Murray discovered that Charles had positionedthe Athollmen so as to cover the Edinburgh road:[Lord George Murray] asked the Prince in a very high tonewhat was become of the Athol Brigade; the Prince told him,upon wch Lord George threw his gun on the Ground in a greatpassion, & Swore God, he’d never draw his sword for the cause,if the Bregade was not brought back. The Prince wth hisordinary prudence, tho’ senseble of the disrespect, & too sensibleof the consequence it may be of, gave orders yt the Brigadeshou’d come back, but Lord George who was brought tohimself, by Lochiel’s representation, as it is said, prayed thePrince to send the brigade to their first destination.John William O’SullivanThe scene is revealing of the tensions that had already developedin the army, but more importantly it reveals that not only wasLord George dismissive of the Prince’s Irish officers but he alsofailed to treat the Prince appropriately for his station. His tonewas unacceptable before a superior officer, let alone the PrinceRegent. This very public display of disrespect, and thedemonstrably hot temper that blinded Murray to the insult hewas issuing, was the first of a series of such occasions. Ultimately,it could have led to the complete collapse of the Jacobite army. Itcertainly did lead to a fragmentation of the command system,and these problems were to increase as the campaigns went on. Itis notable that at this early stage, Charles was willing to pacify thesituation by giving way against his better judgement. Had hebeen as confident of his own abilities as Murray was of his, thenhe might have reacted more forcefully.119

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITThere were further disagreements that day, especially regardingthe placement of the Camerons in Tranent churchyard, whichCharles and O’Sullivan had ordered and Murray and Lochiel hadopposed. In the event, Cope’s cannon settled the issue as to whatshould be done, although the good sense of the original orders isoften overlooked. It is difficult to know to what extent Murray’sattitude was based on contempt for others’ abilities, or from apersonal incompatibility to individual characters. He certainlyshowed Charles only grudging respect, and never matched hiswillingness to compromise. Charles responded by becomingequally stubborn as time went on, as disagreement becameanimosity. As for O’Sullivan, Murray was probably conscious ofhis close relationship with the Prince and of the value Charlesplaced on his advice. When Johnstone condemns the inabilitiesof Charles’ Irish officers, it is easy to hear the voice of LordGeorge speaking the words behind him:Lord George could receive still less assistance from the subalternIrish officers, who, with the exception of Mr Sullivan, had noother knowledge than that which usually forms the whole stockof subalterns, namely how to mount and quit guard.James JohnstoneThis is clearly evidence of the division between professionalsoldiers and those who were volunteers. Murray and O’Sullivanwere the champions of these two camps, whether they wanted tobe or not. The fact that the professionals were in the minority,and predominantly Irish, enhanced this division, and the factthat they had French commissions added an even sharper edge. Ifit all went wrong, they would likely become prisoners of war andhad the prospect of future exchange, whereas the volunteers wererebels in the eyes of the law and faced only the scaffold. This didnot mean that the lives of the professional soldiers were any lessexposed, or their vigour any damper.Johnstone’s comment also, almost in spite of itself, acknow-120

L IVING WITH M URRAYledges O’Sullivan’s knowledge of warfare and his extensivemilitary experience. As Adjutant-General, the overall logisticaland administrative operation of the Jacobite Army fell toO’Sullivan. Although at times there are clear problems, such asthe apparent failure to appoint a commander for the left wing atFalkirk, there are also occasions where O’Sullivan’s abilities areclearly demonstrated. When Johnstone recalls the army’s marchto Carlisle, in separate columns divided at Edinburgh and joiningtogether on the border, he notes that, ‘this march was arrangedand executed with such precision that there was not an interval oftwo hours between the arrival of the different columns.’ Theresponsibility for the planning of this operation must have beenO’Sullivan’s, and only then did it fall to Murray and Charles toexecute it. Its success is a tribute to all of them, and evidence ofthe Adjutant-General’s experience and capability. In his clearermoments, Murray seems also to have been capable of acknowledgingthat he was not so experienced, if O’Sullivan’s own recordis to be believed: at Carlisle, Murray confessed, ‘yt for his part heunderstood nothing of seeges,’ and he therefore stayed with thearmy whilst the Duke of Perth commanded in the trenches. Forthe night march on Nairn, Murray apparently insisted that therewas no need for formal orders to be issued, as everyone knew whatwas to be done. This is not the attitude of a professional soldier.Murray’s talents were, of course, considerable. His rapidcharge at Prestonpans successfully seized the initiative. AtClifton, he helped secure a victory which allowed the retreat tocontinue successfully. Again at Falkirk, Murray led his wing in asuccessful charge, having driven off Hawley’s dragoons bykeeping his men firmly disciplined, firing only at the lastmoment. Charles himself acknowledged these abilities, frequentlyattempting to patch up their differences and expressing hisgratitude for Murray’s support, but always achieving nothing buta little breathing space before the next argument. Sadly, LordGeorge was afflicted with an outrageous lack of restraint and aninability to yield authority or concede success to others. This was121

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITincredibly disruptive to the unity of the forces, and becameincreasingly difficult for Charles to endure.Charles Edward Stuart was a man with a fiery temperament.Confident and energetic, he also had a deep awareness that thiswas his one opportunity to succeed. His frustrations when othersseemed obstructive to that success are understandable, andMurray’s attitude strained to the very limits the Prince’s ability tobite his tongue for the sake of politics and to overlook seriousslights. In later years, unrestrained by the requirements of activepolitical and military campaigning, insults far smaller than thoseoffered by Lord George would result in permanent hostility fromthe Prince. His temper during the ’45 was controlled only by hisown self-restraint, and the conscious knowledge that successdemanded it. However, the pressure from Murray quickly grewtoo much for him to endure. At Carlisle, Murray threatened toresign for the second time:Ld George, upon this [not being consulted about the termsof the town’s surrender], writes a very high letter to thePrince, where he tells HRH yt since the Duc of Perth has all thepreferances, yt he has taken his party & will serve no more.John William O’SullivanThis time, Charles called his bluff. It was too much that, now thearmy was in England and surrounded by hostile forces, witheverything committed in a single spectacular gamble, Murrayshould now show such pique. His attitude was offensive towardsthe Duke of Perth, who thankfully was impossible to offend, butwho was also Murray’s social senior and equal in rank. It was alsooffensive towards the Prince, in demanding that Murray shouldbe consulted on all things first and foremost. O’Sullivancomments on its high tone, whilst Sir John MacDonald calls it, ‘avery impertinent letter.’ For Charles it was a step too far, and heaccepted the resignation without much hesitation. Only on theDuke of Perth’s magnanimous offer to stand down in Murray’s122

L IVING WITH M URRAYfavour, and after the intervention of several other senior figures,did Charles relent. It is telling that Murray’s own letters implythat his brother Tullibardine had failed to support his case. Hisbehaviour was causing trouble even for himself. Charles was wellaware of the difficulty he was in. For all he believed in himself, asa young and inexperienced commander he lacked the confidencehe needed to overcome the older Murray. It was becoming abattle of wits, and an unwelcome distraction.If Charles had hoped that Murray would be chastened byevents at Carlisle, then he was soon disappointed. Frictioncontinued to build throughout the campaign in England,climaxing in the ultimatum at Derby. It is difficult not toimagine Murray slowly gathering up his arguments as the armymarched, and working hard to undermine the confidence ofthose in his circle. By the time Charles was within strikingdistance of London, Lord George presented him with a faitaccompli, a debate he had already stage-managed before it was putbefore the Prince. To Charles, it was betrayal on a staggeringscale, all the more devastating for the numbers that Murray hadbrought to bear against him. The debates at Derby exposedCharles’ utter reliance on the men around him: he was the leaderof the coup, but entirely dependent on the consent of the chiefs.Murray had never truly acknowledged Charles’ authority ascommander-in-chief, and every time Charles had conceded toMurray he had unavoidably weakened his own authority. AtDerby, it was now uncertain who was actually in command.The Prince heard all these arguments [for retreat] with thegreatest impatience, fell into a passion and gave most of thegentlemen that had spoke very abusive language and said thatthey had a mind to betray him.Lord ElchoCharles could no longer restrain his anger and frustration. Hehad hit a wall, and had no choice but to comply. Whereas Sir123

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITJohn Cope had once made all his officers sign their agreement toretreat in the face of the enemy, Charles’ officers had now forcedhim to consent to the one course of action he knew beyond alldoubt would destroy them all. It was a disaster for the cause, anda personal catastrophe for the Prince. For Murray, who at leastwas no gloater, it was a triumph of his own judgement over thatof his superior. He had effectively wrested control of the armyout of Charles’ hands, but the Prince would neither accept it norforgive it. He now declared that:For the future he would have not more Councils, for he wouldneither ask nor take their advice; that he was accountable tonobody but his father; and he was as good as his word.Lord ElchoDuring the retreat from Derby, there was little Charles could doto reassert his authority, but he did insist on certain strategiesbeing employed. He frequently delayed the departure of thearmy’s rearguard as long as possible to prevent the retreatappearing to be a rout, and he also insisted that no baggage orguns were abandoned. Murray was faced with the task ofoverseeing much of this, but Charles was surely right thatappearances needed to be maintained, not just for the enemy butalso to maintain the morale of the men. The strain of draggingthe guns through the wild winter nights was surely less damagingthan the sight of so much abandoned equipment dumped besidethe road, without a blow being struck.Despite the tensions that were simmering during the retreat,the victory at Falkirk should have set the Rising back on track.Charles certainly sensed that he had a chance to limit the damagethe others had done by forcing him to retreat. However, shortlyafter the battle the Prince was to receive a blow no less deadlythan that he had received at Derby, and dealt by the same hand.On 29th January 1746, Prince Charles withdrew to his bed ingood spirits despite the difficulties being encountered in the siege124

L IVING WITH M URRAYof Stirling Castle. Shortly after eleven o’clock, O’Sullivan wasdisturbed in his room by the arrival of the secretary of state, JohnMurray of Broughton. Without speaking, Broughton handed theIrishman a letter he had received from Lord George Murray andthe chiefs, whom O’Sullivan had spoken to as recently as fourthat afternoon. He read it with horror, and Murray of Broughtonwas equally aware of the gravity of the moment. Both men knewCharles well, and O’Sullivan remembers how Broughtonpredicted their master’s response: ‘this will set him mad, for he’l seeplainly yt it is a Caballe & yt Ld George has blinded all thosepeoples.’ Neither dared wake the Prince, and Broughton rushed toLord George in attempt to change his mind. As expected, hewould not budge, and nothing had been achieved by the timethat old Sheridan took the note to Charles the following earlymorning:When Charles read the paper he struck his head against thewall until he staggered, and exclaimed most violently againstLord George Murray. His words were ‘Good God! Have I livedto see this!’Lord ElchoCharles was losing his fight to stay in control of his Rising, and ashe stared down on the page before him it was clear that nobodyaround him shared either his vision or his will. Worse, theyclearly no longer believed that he could drive them to victorythrough the sheer strength of his character. The rot that had setin at Derby, had now infected his whole council, it seemed. LordGeorge Murray had presented the Prince with a picture ofcrippling desertion levels and strategic vulnerability, beforeinsisting that the army must retreat once again. Having recentlywon the largest battle they had yet fought, the Jacobites were nowto withdraw into the highlands. Behind them they were to leavethe fertile wealth of the lowlands, the harbours through whichthe French could succour them, and the last chances of a lasting125

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITvictory. This, not Derby, was the beginning of the end.When I came to Scotland, I knew well enough what I was toexpect from my Ennemies, but I little foresaw what I met withfrom my Friends. I came vested with all the Authority the Kingcould give me, one chief part of which is the Command of theArmies, and now I am required to give this up...I am often hit in the teeth that this is an Army of Voluntiers,consisting of Gentlemen of Rank and fortune, who came into itmerely upon motives of Duty and Honours; what one wou’dexpect from such an Army is more zeal, more resolution andmore manners than in those who fight merely for pay. Everyoneknew before he engaged in the cause what he was to expect incase it miscarried, and shou’d have staid at home if he cou’d notface death in any shape.Charles Edward StuartThe letter Charles wrote to Lord George Murray in response isangry, hurt, and despairing. In the reality which was all too barebefore him, there was nothing the Prince could do to keep thecampaign on the tracks that he believed it relied upon. Hisresponse is often quoted as ungrateful and bitter, lacking anappreciation of the risks his men were taking on his behalf. This,however, is to ignore the context of two months of massivepersonal frustration and insult, and the increasing sense thatCharles himself was besieged by his friends as much as hisopponents. He no longer felt that he could trust those aroundhim, the men on whom he was absolutely dependent. From hisown point of view, he was absolutely right. He was fighting adifferent war to them, he knew that momentum was the cause’sonly chance for success. He also probably knew, deep in his heartand learned from lessons before the Rising began, that Francehad no reliable intention of committing itself to a full scaleinvasion. Murray, after Falkirk, had written privately that he was,‘persuaded the French will now attempt a landing in Ingland, but126

L IVING WITH M URRAYwill it come in time?’ Charles however knew that they could notbe relied upon, and that it was down to this army to win the waralone. Perhaps he was unable to present this reality to the council,as too many of the chiefs had come out only because theybelieved Charles had powerful backing. Perhaps he had been tooquick to make promises when he needed that early support in theprevious summer. Charles, however, had always made it clear thathe would fight to the last as long as there was the slightest chanceof victory: tout ou rien. He was now sure that the others wouldnot share this gamble.Despite Charles’ rage, the order to retreat was given. To theBritish government, it was a gift. The initial stage of thewithdrawal was horribly mismanaged, although it is difficult toget a sense of what really went wrong. Lord George blamedO’Sullivan for providing muddled orders, whilst he in turnblamed Murray for simply doing his own thing regardless of theplanned operation. Elcho, covering the retreat, was left standingat his post without being recalled until he was under threat, andnaturally was much enraged by this neglect and may even havebelieved it was deliberate. The church at St Ninian’s explodedwhilst the powder being stored there was being removed, causingmilitary and civilian casualties as the church was destroyed. Withtheir leaders locked in mutual recrimination and public displaysof disagreement, confused or missing instructions, large numbersof men not stationed with their units (as was the tendency ofhighlanders), and massive explosions to their rear, all order in theretreat collapsed. Never did the withdrawal seem more like arout. For the superstitious highlanders, there was one more pieceof misfortune. When Charles’ horse stepped into the Fords, itwas wounded by a caltrop placed there ahead of them. The realitywas that the army had been lucky on this occasion, as a localfarmer had assisted the government agents in scattering caltropsat a ford he knew the army would not use, and it was typical ofCharles to do something unexpected by crossing elsewhere to themain body. Thus the army was able to cross unhindered, and the127

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITPrince’s horse was the only casualty. The message that onecasualty sent, however, was clear: the army would never return tothe Firth of Forth, to the lowlands.When the army reached Crieff on 2nd February, the chiefsforced Charles to call a council of war. If this was not sufficient toaffront the embattled Regent, he was astonished to discover at areview of his forces that the levels of desertion – the mainargument for the continuing retreat – were significantly lowerthan Murray had argued. Charles’ instinct that the army was stillcapable of fighting if Cumberland approached had been right,and the missing men had simply been out scouting for food orbetter lodgings, with no intention of abandoning their comrades.Surely now that the truth had been established, and the armyconcentrated, the strategy should be revised. Charles however wasagain being confronted with a decision that had been madewithout him. There would be no turnabout, the retreat wouldcontinue. Worse, the east coast was to be abandoned. The Princedoggedly argued against abandoning the lowlanders, ‘to the furyof our merciless enemies,’ but Murray insisted the east could not bedefended. Lord Lewis Gordon spoke up for the Prince, perhapsadding the reflection that he himself had successfully heldAberdeenshire and the north east for the Jacobites whilst thearmy was in England, winning a significant victory at Inverurie.When Murray refused to hear Charles’ argument:Ld Louis Gorden asked him if he was mad, & if the Prince wasnot master to speak when he thought fit; Ld George said not.John William O’SullivanMurray was proposing that at such councils Charles only spokewhen all others had expressed their opinions. Clearly he was stillconcerned that the force of Charles’ arguments and personalitycould prove persuasive. Nevertheless, with the Prince’s temperfracturing with increasing frequency and his control weakeningvisibly, the retreat continued. Sadly, and not for the first time, his128

L IVING WITH M URRAYstrategic opinion was vindicated by later events. On 27thFebruary, 650 French regulars arrived off the coast of Aberdeenonly to discover that the Jacobites had abandoned the town. Theywithdrew, taking with them Charles’ last hopes for continentalsupport. Murray’s party had won their wish to get back into theirown lands, to fight the war they had envisaged from the outset,but they had also demonstrated that they were collectivelypossessed of a cripplingly short-sighted strategic mind. Curiously,O’Sullivan records that Lord George had begun protesting thathe had opposed the retreat. If this is true, then maybe he wasstarting to appreciate the danger the Cause was now in. For theloyal, exhausted Adjutant-General, this was too much to bear insilence, and he gave vent to his views:My Ld [Murray] yu know very well the Prince was never forthe retraite, & yu know well who is the author of it, & if youhad not sent us a Sintence of Death, signed by you & all thechiefs, the Prince wou’d never consent to it, & it is very Ill of yuto speak so high & make people believe the contreray.John William O’SullivanIt is hardly a positive position for an army to be in wheremembers of the council believe the strategy is little more than adeath sentence. O’Sullivan was a professional soldier, and he didhis utmost to perform his duty to his commanding officer andfriend. He saw in Murray not only an arrogant amateur playingout of his depth, but also a dangerous rogue element that wasundermining the Prince and actively creating factions within theofficer corps. Like his master, O’Sullivan was now starting to feelthe psychological strain of this most extraordinary war.Perhaps unexpectedly, the Jacobite campaign now experiencedsomething of a revival. It may have been the confidence that thehighland elements received now that they were back in theirhome territories. Whatever it was, the army now resumed theoffensive and achieved a number of important objectives, most129

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITimportantly the capture of Fort George, during which O’Sullivanhad his hat shot from his head. The Earl of Loudoun, alreadynervous after the check at Inverurie in December, was chastenedfurther by his attempt to capture Charles at Moy, and waspursued into Sutherland and beyond the Durnoch Firth by theDuke of Perth. Loudoun was soon on Skye, his forces dispersed,and no longer capable of seriously threatening Charles’operations. Lord George Murray also scored successes during histhrust towards his family seat at Blair Castle, although he failedto take the house itself. Charles himself did not activelyparticipate in these smaller operations, partly because he neededto be ready at headquarters to coordinate any future concentration,but also because he was suffering from poor health.No doubt the absence of some of his council provided him withsome relief. He was clearly anxious that the attempt on FortWilliam stretched his forces too thinly, although he did notsucceed in maintaining sufficient concentrations at Inverness.As Cumberland advanced towards him, he desperately gatheredup what forces he could and prepared to receive the attack. Thefords along the Spey could not be defended, as Cumberlandcrossed at numerous places, although there was some skirmishing.The climax of the war was approaching, and for the firsttime, the Jacobites were about to give battle without holding theinitiative.As the army gathered near Culloden, it became clear thatCumberland was in no rush to engage and that battle would notoccur immediately. Unfortunately, Charles was now let down byanother of his officers. John Hay of Restalrig was an experiencedbanker and treasurer to the army, but since the more efficientMurray of Broughton was currently ill, Hay had taken on hisduties as secretary of state. At this crucial moment he failedutterly to provide the appropriate supplies for the army stationedoutside Inverness. Having rushed to arms and drawn up on anopen plain in poor weather, the army was now stood downwithout the provision of food, and the men were instructed to130

L IVING WITH M URRAYhave a care for themselves. This was not a propitious beginningto the final engagement of the ’45. As Charles became aware ofthe difficulties confronting his army, and the absence of key unitswhich were still hurrying to the concentration point, he lamentedbefore his officers the fact that they had lost the initiative andthat even if Cumberland left them alone they would all probablystarve. It seems that Lord George Murray, unhappy anyway withthe choice of battleground, now struck upon the idea of the nightmarch on the government camp at Nairn.Charles’ relationship with Murray had been rocky from thestart, but now in the face of the approaching enemy the two atlast found something to agree upon. The new plan had echoes ofPrestonpans, which must have added to its appeal. It isnoteworthy that O’Sullivan recalls the fact that when Charlescalled a council of war – a rare thing by this stage – it was Murraywho did the talking, and that everybody agreed to the plan.O’Sullivan himself agreed that he could see victory before themat last. With hindsight, they were all wrong. There were countlessproblems with the plan: the regular forces were unused to crosscountrynight marching; the distance was too great to allow thetroops to form up before attacking as a body; the soldiers werehungry and tired, and needed to rest rather than march ten milesin darkness. It was a plan born of desperation, and as often occurswhen all seems set for defeat, the alternative offered is receivedwith eager zeal.On that dreadful night before the disaster of the morrow, LordGeorge Murray finally broke Prince Charles. Deciding that thearmy was incapable of achieving its intention, and regardless ofthe fact that its whole strength – meagre as that still was – wastoo deeply committed to the enterprise, Murray turned about hiscolumn and began to march back to Culloden. Inexcusably, hedid not even inform Charles of the decision, let alone seek hispermission. In the darkness, the Prince despaired to discover thathis army was retreating once more around him, and he saw inthis the bitter sting of deliberate sabotage. To his credit, he131

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITmaintained face before his men, eagerly promising them betterfortune tomorrow, but to his officers he seethed with rage. Herethen is perhaps the most obvious difference in the leadershipstyles of the Prince and his Lieutenant-General. Whilst Charlesalways spoke to his men with charm and warmth, encouragingtheir spirits and attempting rally their hearts, Murray was carelesswith his tongue and too open in his anger. O’Sullivan recalls himat different times in the campaign as, ‘crying very high before themen,’ or complaining to Charles, ‘before all the Compagny,’ andthat on the march to Nairn others saw, ‘both him & his officerstalking openly [about defeat] before our men.’ Charles would neverwillingly have permitted his behaviour to undermine theconfidence of his forces so openly.Charles was amongst the last to get back to his quarters,having overseen the retreat to its final stages, and havingattempted to go to Inverness in search of the missing provisions.Perth persuaded him not to go, and instead a body of FitzJames’horse was sent. Once the doors of Culloden House were closed,the Prince’s patience gave out at last. Johnstone recalls that, ‘thePrince, on his return to Culloden, enraged against Lord GeorgeMurray, publicly declared that no one in future should command hisarmy but himself.’ It was clearly not as public as the captain wouldhave us believe, probably only before the officers of the council.O’Sullivan attempts to persuade us that Charles managed to bitehis lip once more, but this now seems unlikely considering theextent of the provocation. Perhaps there occurred another ofPrince Charles’ contradictory presentations, a politicallymotivated expression of restrain in front of a larger audience, andthen a raging display in private afterwards. 42 Either way, it seemsthe argument broke down into mutual blame and recrimination,with some accounts stating that Murray openly blamedeverything on Lochiel, and Charles eventually put an end to thediscussion for fear of even further division. He caught just the42 This would explain the wildly contradictory accounts of this meeting.132

L IVING WITH M URRAYlightest sleep, fully clothed and still in his boots, then was backon the field.Murray’s decision to halt that march is certainly defensible ongrounds of the inability to deploy the army prior to attacking thecamp. To begin a retreat, however, without communicating withhis senior officer is inexcusable, and it condemned the army toconfusion and despair. More than anything else, the failure ofthis march doomed the Jacobite army. The cause may have beenlost at Derby, Stirling, or Crieff, but Murray had secured theoutcome of the Battle of Culloden by turning the army about thenight before. An early morning attack on Cumberland’s army,which was in fact prepared for such an event, may not havebrought any greater guarantee of success than a fight across themoor at Culloden, but neither did it guarantee failure in a waythat the retreat would. Murray was sure the army was dispersingand deserting during the march, but his judgement on suchthings had been proven fallible before. If not deliberate sabotage,this was a blunder born of an ill-conceived plan executed withoutconviction by the very man who had proposed it. As the manwho ordered the retreat, this was Murray’s sin to bear.The events at Culloden on 16th April 1746 have long beenthe source of disagreement and controversy, not least in regard tothe conduct of the Prince, which is described in the followingchapter. Certain aspects of Murray’s conduct also requirescrutiny, because although his gallantry in leading the charge ofthe right wing is undoubted, and he did good service by holdingthe reserve whilst the army routed, he also blatantly disobeyeddirect orders from his Prince. O’Sullivan presents a vivid pictureof the confusion that reined during the army’s deployment, buthe also clearly identifies the fact that Murray was simply ignoringhim. When Cumberland’s army was not yet deployed, and whilstone of its guns was stuck in the boggy ground, Charles saw thepotential for launching an attack, but Murray remained still. It isprobable that too little of the Jacobite army had been rallied to itspositions, but Murray’s unresponsiveness was clearly going to be a133

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITproblem. Worse, when direct orders were carried to Lord George,he refused to act upon them, a fact reported even by his friendJohnstone (then on the opposite wing):The Prince... observed them employed in throwing down thewalls of the enclosures to attack us in flank, and immediatelysent repeated orders to Lord George Murray... to place sometroops in the enclosure and prevent the manoeuvre... LordGeorge paid no attention to this order.James JohnstoneMurray’s arrogance and the obstructive nature of his attitudewere again on plain view. As O’Sullivan despaired, riding up anddown the lines in vain efforts to order them, whilst Charlesactively reorganised the reserve to plug weaknesses in the front,Murray failed to obey the order to protect his flank. The gaps inthe lines were likewise Murray’s fault for, not without reason (asthe move added greater weight to the charge) he suddenlyredeployed his men six deep rather than three. When the battlebegan, as cannon lashed the Jacobite lines, Murray was also slowto attack. Theories abound as to what delayed the charge, rangingfrom Charles’ failure to order it to Murray’s reluctance to obey it.At least one of Charles’ messengers was killed carrying the order,but plenty were sent. It seems Murray was not keen to launch anattack from beyond the protection of the enclosures before hisenemy had made a move or exposed some opportunity, but theartillery was beyond bearing and the highlanders could hardly berestrained. Once the battle began in earnest, he did his duty well,but during the initial deployment Lord George Murray wasbehaving stubbornly and arrogantly, letting his personal hatredfor O’Sullivan override his duties as a field officer.When the battle had been lost, and the Rising had staggeredto its death, Murray seized the opportunity to vent his truefeelings. Isolated from the surviving units of his army, the Princeordered his men to fight on as long as they could whilst he134

L IVING WITH M URRAYsought succour from France in person. He had seen defeat for thefirst time, and had no doubt who was to blame for the failures ofthe campaign. For months now control of the army had beenwrested from him at every opportunity, his opinions humiliatinglysidelined, and he was now understandably convinced thatthe chance he had once held in Scotland had been squandered.Realising also that the game was up, Murray sent Charles anotherof his fiery letters laying everything on the line (appendix IV).The letter is revealing. Its opening passage highlights Murray’sastonishing arrogance, as he seems convinced that he, ‘had moreat stake than all the others put together,’ and talks as thoughCharles should be impressed that he has, ‘resolution to bear myown and family ruine without a grudge.’ Murray had risked nomore than any other Jacobite, and Charles himself had remindedthem that the risks of rebellion were great. He goes on to criticisethe Prince for beginning the campaign at all, and he is alwayscareful to suggest that he is speaking for a host of unnamedothers. Although he stops short of blaming Charles for specificfailures, he soon gets to the crux of his resentment:I wish Mr O’Sullivan had never got any other charge in theArmy than care of the Bagage which I have been told he hasbeen brought up to and understood. I never saw him in time ofAction neither at Gladsmuir, Falkirk nor in the last, and hisorders were vastly confused.Lord George MurrayMurray degrades O’Sullivan’s military experience, hinting thatthe point has often been discussed behind his back, and in a mostforthright manner accuses him of cowardice. There is no reasonwhy this insinuation should be believed, as O’Sullivan was clearlyactive as a staff officer at each of these engagements. He may nothave led charges sword in hand like Murray, but he was alwaysproactive in the field. He narrowly missed serious injury duringoperations against Fort George, and his activities in the highlands135

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITwith Prince Charles after Culloden make clear that he was acourageous officer. Lord George’s implications do him littlecredit. Equally indefensible is his statement that he, ‘never hadany particular discussion with either of them [O’Sullivan and Hay],but I ever thought them incapable and unfit to serve.’ His feelingson the men had perhaps not been expressed so openly before, buthe had certainly made them clear, and in his high office had beenin constant contact with both men, whether he liked it or not. Infairness to Murray, his accusations against Hay were rather morereasonable, in light of his recent incompetence.Other points in the letter would have struck Charles, such asMurray’s insistence that the night march was a good ideascuppered by the supply failure rather than his own decision toretreat: ‘we possibly might have surprised and defeat the enemy atNairn, but for want of provisions a third of the army scattered.’ Thissounds like a man shifting responsibility. Surely the most gallingof all his comments, however, was Murray’s determination todistance himself from the failings at Culloden. He admits:it was a fatal error yesterday to allow the enemy those wallsupon their left which made it impossible for us to break them,and they with their front fire and flanking us when we wentupon the attack destroyed us without any possibility of ourbreaking them, and our Atholl men lost a full half of theirofficers and men.Lord George MurrayThe blame, he insists, is O’Sullivan’s, but we have already seenthat Murray was repeatedly ordered to bring up troops into thosevery enclosures, and that these orders were deliberatelydisobeyed. To now identify this as the cause of the disaster, and toblame others for it, is difficult to excuse. Perhaps the hardestthing to forgive, however, is the fact that just one day after thedefeat at Culloden, Lord George Murray was engaging in a gameof blame and recrimination, cutting himself off from the events136

L IVING WITH M URRAYthat caused the reverse, and claiming some impossible moral highground, all of which left the Prince’s position completelyuntenable. Not one word in the letter proposed a course of actionto recover the situation. There was no going back from here, andthe Rising was ended as much by the words of the Lieutenant-General as by the bayonets of Cumberland. To rub salt into thewound, Murray now tended his resignation.Charles and O’Sullivan went on the run, whilst Murraydisbanded the remnants of the army and sought escape to thecontinent also. His letter from Ruthven has been excused as theheart-felt account of a brave commander who was left with therump of a defeated army, abandoned by the rest of the seniorstaff. The Prince’s intention to leave the country was certainly notyet formed, as he was still attempting to discover what hadbecome of his army. Receiving this letter however must havemade it clear to him that the Rising could not continue in itscurrent form. The best that could be envisaged is that the clansstayed out, resisting in the mountains as they had long claimedwas their best strategy, until French help restored the balance.Only Charles could secure that help, as he knew well that KingLouis’ policy was to tie up British troops, rather than to helpJames win his throne. Louis would have to treat Charles onsomething approaching equal terms, at least, which offered aglimmer of hope. Charles was a determined, energetic man, andit would be a long time before he gave up on his dream, butsurely when he left Scotland he knew in his heart that he wasleaving it forever.Lord George Murray was truly an extraordinary man, and hehas attracted a great deal of attention, praise, and criticism eversince the miscarriage of the Rising. He was a brave, often capable,but deeply flawed and imperfect character. His complete inabilityto work with others, often people with greater experience than heor with a more far-reaching strategic vision, made him adestabilising influence within the Jacobite Army. He workedtirelessly to undermine Charles’ personal control of the army, and137

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITcould not overcome his personal animosity to key officers likeO’Sullivan. The difficulties Charles endured first in trying topacify, then to overcome the will of Lord George contributedsignificantly to his own decline and to the inability of the armycommand to operate to the maximum of its ability. Murray wasalso clearly possessed of a talent worthy of his Prince inpersuading others to take his part. When he eventually escaped inMarch 1747, he made great speed to use this power upon KingJames in Rome. Charles refused to see him in Paris shortly after,and even threatened to have him imprisoned for the treachery henow believed Murray had exposed him to throughout thecampaign. The King wrote to his heir on this very subject:As to what he [Murray] may have failed against you personally,he has owned his fault to me and begged of me to make hissubmission to you for him... All he seeks is your forgiveness.James Frances Edward StuartKing James had not been exposed to Murray at his worst, but athis humblest. After his brief effort in Paris, Lord George made nofurther effort to communicate with Charles. He was not sohumble as to ask twice. Charles never forgave him, andthe damage Murray did to the Prince’s psyche by persuading himthat his own council could not be trusted, would never beundone. After sharing the trials of their escape and maintainingcontact long after, Charles would even start to doubt O’Sullivan,who nevertheless continued to serve France as a professionalsoldier.In the account O’Sullivan wrote for King James after hisreturn to Europe, there is a story which is perhaps the mostemphatic as to the difficulties of living with Lord George Murray.During the night march on Nairn, after months of bitterdisagreement and personal animosity, Prince Charles approachedMurray on foot:138

L IVING WITH M URRAYThe Prince joyns him, takes one of his hands, & sets anotherhand about his neck, holding him thus, tells him, “Ld George,yu cant imagine, nor I cant expresse to yu how acknowledging Iam of all the services yu have rendred me, but this will Crownall. You’l restore the King by it, you’l deliver our poor Contryfrom Slevery, you’l have all the honr & glory of it, it is yourown work, as yu imagined it, & be assured, Dr Ld George,that the King nor I will never forget it. I speak to yu my Dr LdGeorge (the Prince sweesing [squeezing] him) from the bottomof my soul, & I am sure yt it is to you we’ll owe all, so GodBlesse yu.” The Prince continued so holding him by the hand &about the body, for above quarter of an hour. Ld George neverdained to answer one word.John William O’SullivanCharles was a young man whose destiny was hanging in thebalance. He himself was proud, capable, and sure of hisconvictions. He had strained every sinew to make the Risingwork, but his plans often seemed thwarted by this dominating,overbearing older man. With, no doubt, tremendous effort,Charles made a heart-felt overture to Murray to bury the hatchet.Lord George, however, never proper in his behaviour to hismaster, never giving Charles full credence for his talents, andjealously defending his own authority regardless of consequence,was too proud even to acknowledge him. The hurt Charles feltwas raw, it was personal, and it was utterly unforgivable.139

Defeat at CullodenIt was early on the morning of 15th April 1746, and the men ofthe Jacobite army concentration in the grounds of CullodenHouse were ordered to report onto the moor. Part of the largeDrummossie Moor, the ground chosen by the Jacobite officerswas a large patch of open heath belonging to the Culloden estateof Lord President Forbes. Charles Edward Stuart had called hismen together for battle. The orders of the day had been sent tothe officers, exhorting the men to press ever forward and not quittheir ground, but also to show restraint by neither stripping norplundering the dead. The Prince himself rode along the lines,beaming with confidence and eagerness, proclaiming hisreadiness with his tartan jacket and broadsword, and on hishighland targe the face of Medusa to petrify his enemies.Behind the smile, the Prince’s heart was straining withcontrasting emotions. He was indeed eager for the fight, afterlong weeks of comparative inactivity. The army now approachinghim had hounded his every step since Derby, had driven him intothe highlands, slowly, cautiously, unnervingly drawing the nooseever tighter around the Jacobite neck. Now at last Charles wouldhave the decisive battle he had longed for, and been denied inEngland and at Stirling. At Prestonpans and again at Falkirk, andat Clifton and Inverurie, the Jacobite army had prevailed in all itsbattlefield operations, and there was every reason to believe thatvictory could be achieved. If he won here, the army could sweepback through Scotland and recover all that had been lost in thelong hard retreat north. If Charles won, he could prevail overthose in his council who were too cautious and lacked his vision,and those whose conceit undermined his authority.And yet there were problems. The Jacobite army was dispersedover a wide area, and much of his full potential was denied toCharles by that distance. Units were arriving at the concentrationpoint, but not quickly enough or in sufficient quantities. He had140

D EFEAT AT C ULLODENhere only half of the army he had fielded at Falkirk three monthsearlier, and this made him anxious. Nor were all his cannons upfrom Inverness. Worse, his officers were not all convinced that itwas wise to fight, arguing for a withdrawal across the river tohigher hillier ground, or for the creation of a fortified positionanchored on Inverness. Such plans might increase the chances ofthe rest of the army coming up in time for a battle, but they putInverness at risk, and in Inverness were all the army’s supplies andmagazines. Once the master of Scotland, this was Charles’ lastcity. Beyond it lay only the chance of a limited guerrilla war, andthe slow starvation of food and funds.The Prince was determined, then, that he would fight. Forseveral days his staff had been trying to decide where the actionwould take place. Lord George Murray, long a thorn in Charles’side but able and influential, had favoured a position nearKilvarock Castle, were the geography favoured a defensive battle,and a safe withdrawal towards Inverness if things went badly. Itwas almost as if he expected to fail. The Adjutant-General hadadvised otherwise: the Jacobite army needed an open field whichenabled a clear charge towards the enemy. Unused to extendedfire-fights, the army was not capable of mounting a staticdefensive action in a formal engagement against regulars andartillery. Close to their headquarters, Culloden offered the openfield the army needed to attack, whilst there were enclosures andpark walls available to protect the flanks and offer defensiveadvantages should these be required. It was here, then, that thearmy was now standing ready.It was cold, raw, and there was an occasional shower of icy rainthat lashed into the exposed army, but morale seemed high andthe men gave their Prince enthusiastic huzzahs as he rodeamongst them. As time went on, their enthusiasm dampened asthe weather cooled their ardour, and the enemy still remained outof sight. Charles, impatient now that all was set for his battle,instructed Lord Elcho, commander of his Lifeguards, to take hismen forwards and reconnoitre for the enemy. The Lifeguards141

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITwere the pride of the army, gentlemen volunteers in fine navycoats, scarlet waistcoats adorned with gold lace, and tartan crossbelts.Although few in numbers, like all Charles’ cavalryregiments, they had been worked hard and they knew theirbusiness. Elcho was young and handsome, well-connected andhaughty, and the natural leader for such a unit. Taking his menalong the roads towards the last known enemy positions, he soonlocated the army of the Duke of Cumberland. To his surprise,and soon to Charles’ frustration, it was obvious that the enemyhad no intention of obliging the Jacobites with battle that day.Leaving part of his force to observe the enemy, Elcho returned tothe Prince with the news.Charles had ordered up the biscuit from Inverness, since themen had remained unfed, and there was one biscuit handed outper man. It was a meagre ration, but things would be set in orderonce the battle had been fought. In the meantime, all attentionturned to Elcho’s news. The senior officers assembled and thearguments against engagement were again brought forward. IfCumberland did not want to fight, then there was a chance to fallback on more favourable ground, some argued, and to link upwith Cromartie’s division which ought to be returning southfrom its operations. Little did they know, an unusually vigorousaction by some loyalist highlanders was already in the process ofdispersing Cromartie’s men at Dunrobin. As the debatescontinued, the Jacobite army stood sullenly on the plain, hungryand cold, now muttering with the natural discontent of soldiersleft in such a position.Suddenly, there was a change of mood in the officers’discussions. Lord George Murray, who had never favoured theground at Culloden, now proposed that instead of a withdrawalwest, an alternative strategy could allow them to recover theinitiative:The Night was the time [Murray said] to putt them most uponan Equality, and he Concluded that his Opinion was that they142

D EFEAT AT C ULLODENShould march at dusk of ye Evening.Lord ElchoWhilst the Jacobite officers decided how best to execute theirnight march, designed to surprise the enemy in their tents, anumber of Royal Navy vessels sailed into sight in the MorayFirth. Although in no position to harass the Jacobites, they couldcertainly observe them, and it now became essential that themarch was delayed until the army’s movements could beconcealed. In the late evening, as the army received its neworders, it was discovered that many men had slipped away insearch of food and shelter as soon as it had become clear therewould be no battle that day. Doubts were now expressed as towhether the march could go ahead. By the time the army hadassembled fully, the night would be well advanced and thechances of reaching Cumberland at Nairn much reduced. Thesedoubts, along with those encouraged by the sorry look of some ofthe units after a day exposed to the elements, were spreading fast,but the decision had been taken and the army began to move off.Charles himself took up a position with the Jacobite cavalry, tothe rear of the third column, whilst Lord George Murraycommanded the van. Dispersed along the lines and up ahead ofMurray, local Macintosh men acted as guides, and the armymarched through the darkness and into a close mist. In order toavoid alerting Cumberland by passing populated areas, the marchwould be conducted over rough tracks and uneven ground,visibility constantly reducing, and even the smallest obstaclebecoming an immense obstruction to the march. In theblackness, the men could only focus their attentions at the feet,slowly picking their way through stones and roots, growing evermore tired and weary from the effort. Gaps opened in the lines,encouraging those with energy to redouble their efforts and pushfaster, leaving those behind them still struggling and therebygrowing the gaps rather than closing them. It was all taking toolong.143

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITThe going was no easier for the cavalry, their horses equallyuncertain of their footfalls, their men equally weary after a longday in the saddle. Sensing the problems, the Prince dispatchedaide after aide to the column’s head ordering the pace to beslowed. By the time the messengers reached the front, they had aclear picture of the difficulties in the lines, and reported them tothe van. The leading elements were becoming increasinglyanxious as they neared the enemy that they were becomingisolated and vulnerable. Soon senior officers were up at the frontwith Murray instructing him to halt. There were ugly momentsas officers in the van began to speak their minds too freely, andthe march was now approaching crisis. Charles, however, wassure that they were too deeply committed to consider anyalternative to continued advance. The night was lightening now,and some units could even see the enemy’s campfires. The Princesent orders to the van advising Murray that he should judge whenhe had enough men assembled to launch the attack, and to doorder it as soon as was plausible. It had been gruelling, butCharles chest was tightening with the anticipation of themoment that was approaching.Rippling down the lines, confusion began to set in far beyondthat which had accompanied the difficult march thus far. It waspast three o’clock, and units from the rearward columns werebeginning to fan out into positions from which to attack thecamp. Something was wrong:My Lord George Murray began to be missing; notwithstandingthe Prince’s Aides-de-Camp in riding from rank to rank, andasking, for God’s sake! What has become of his Lordship.John DanielWith his aides unable to establish where Murray and the leadingregiments had gone, and with the light increasing visibly, therewas immense confusion and anxiety. The chances of surprise wereslipping away. Charles, coming up with some of the rearmost144

D EFEAT AT C ULLODENunits, stumbled into the Duke of Perth’s regiment, which was –astonishingly – in retreat. Stunned, exhausted, the Prince’scomposure slipped as he reigned in alongside and cried out,“Where is the Duke? Call him here. I am betrayed! What need have Ito give orders when my orders are disobeyed.” Perth at last appearedwith O’Sullivan, men whose judgement the Prince could trust,and who had apparently not met with the more forward Jacobiteunits as they had returned from Murray. The Prince now receivedthe extraordinary news that Lord George and the van werealready in full retreat, along the open road further north whichthey had earlier avoided in the search for stealth. The decisionhad been taken without him, contrary to his own opinion and hisinstructions. “Good God!” he exclaimed, “What can be the matter?What does this mean? We were equal in numbers and could haveblown them to the devil. Pray, Perth, can’t you call them back yet?Perhaps he has not gone too far?” It was too late, however, and thePrince’s impassioned pleas could not reach Murray’s ears now.John Hay and the Prince’s aides had endeavoured to check theretreat, but nothing had prevailed upon Lord George.When he discovered there was nothing that could be done andthat the die was cast, Charles turned his units about and recalledall the others, promising them a better chance to close withCumberland later. His attempts to rally the spirits of his menwere all too vain, for the exhausted soldiers now faced the samedifficult cross-country march again, without the hope of victoryat the end of it. The lines struggled back through the cold earlyhours, men dropping out of ranks from sheer exhaustion and lackof food. As the last units turned back, the drums could be heardin Cumberland’s camp, rousing his men for the battle ahead.They had slept on full stomachs, their cavalry encamped severalmiles off, all unaware of the peril they had lain exposed to.On reaching Culloden, most of the men simply collapsed inwhatever shelter they could find, and slept. Others struggled offin search of food, a need of which Charles was all too aware.Upon his own return, the Prince had immediately set off for145

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITInverness to discover what had become of the rations he hadordered up. He was intercepted by the Duke of Perth, whopersuaded Charles to remain on the field whilst Captain Sheaand the FitzJames horse went on to find the food. When hearrived at Culloden House, the unwelcome figure of Lord Georgewas there to greet him, and after a brief and bitter argument withhim and Lochiel, each man sought what brief rest he could.Charles was offered a cup of chocolate to warm and sustain him,but O’Sullivan recalls his response: “I can neither eat nor rest whilemy poor peoples are starving.” He then gave orders for meat to befound, any nearby cattle to be slaughtered, and whatever foodcould be discovered to be distributed. He would pay for all indue time, he said, but now the army was his only priority. Dawnhad long since broken over Culloden Moor. Barely two hoursafter the Prince had returned, a party of the Scots Hussarsannounced that the Duke of Kingston’s Horse were approachingalong the road Lord George had so recently quitted, and that therest of the enemy were close behind.The officers were immediately roused, barely having put downtheir heads, and orders were given. The drums began to soundthe call-to-arms, and Charles ordered the pipes to be played. Inditches and in the shadows of the park walls, exhausted Jacobitesoldiers stirred from their fatigue and slowly groaned towardstheir positions. Some were only woken when the guns began tofire. Captain Johnstone had gone to Inverness, and had only hadtime to put one leg into his bed before the drums beat. He nowfaced the agonising prospect of a rush back to the field, andfighting a battle across it. Charles himself mounted his horse assoon as the alarm was sounded, and led the Camerons up ontothe moor in person. There were, of course, no orders ready forthe day, and the officers moved into the approximate positions ofthe previous day.The French ambassador, the Marquis d’Eguilles, had alreadyset about burning his papers in Inverness to prevent them fallinginto enemy hands. In order to do so, he had to abandon the army146

D EFEAT AT C ULLODENwhose trials he had shared. ‘I made my desire yield to my duty,’ hesaid, sure that this was the end. There were few illusions amongstthose who knew their business. In his heart, even Charles knewthe odds were stacking against him. Nevertheless, he made abrave show and urged his men to valorous deeds by recalling theirformer victories. They let out cheers and huzzahs, but most musthave harboured a deep dread of what was coming.Every man kept the best countenance he could, it was gloriouseto fall with a falling state.John William O’SullivanNow that the game was afoot, there was little point in wishingthings were different. It was time to make the most of thechances afforded by the ground. The army was drawn upsomewhat further back than had been the case the previous day,and there was much movement in the Jacobite lines. There wasconfusion as to who should command the right wing, theposition of honour, and for the first time it was granted to theAtholl Brigade, who may have been Murray’s own but who hadan undistinguished record. Over on the right, Murray hadtherefore drawn up with part of an enclosure covering hisfrontage, thus preventing a forward charge, and he accordinglyadvanced his brigade clear of the obstruction, and shortened hisfrontage by deploying in columns. The result was furtherconfusion along the length of the Jacobite front line, whichO’Sullivan was desperately attempting to put into some kind oforder. The compression of the right wing units opened up gaps inthe centre, whilst their forward movement was not match by therest of the line: on the left, the Macdonald regiments had refusedto move forwards clear of the Culloden Enclosure walls, becausethey offered both shelter from fire and protection to their flank.The result was a significant skewing of the Jacobite deployment,with Murray’s units now much closer to Cumberland than wasthe left. All this time, more men were arriving on the field, and147

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITunits in the second line were being moved around by Charles inan attempt to plug the weaknesses in the front. And all this time,the men of the Jacobite army watch with sinking hearts as theBritish army moved, with quiet professional confidence, intotheir own positions.To officers like O’Sullivan, the spectacle of the British army indeployment was the clearest indication yet of the impendingdisaster. As the Jacobite front shuffled and staggered in apparentdisorder, Cumberland’s army moved neatly into position withvisible ability. For the first time in the war, the British Army wasable to deploy unopposed and without harassment, in its owntime and on its own terms. Cumberland arrived with his forces inthree lines, anchored on his left by the old Leanach enclosure,with General Hawley out to the extreme left with a weightyconcentration of dragoons and militia. As the Jacobite linesskewed, Cumberland moved his remaining cavalry round tosecure his right, and formed his infantry into two solid parallellines. There were twice as many men now facing Charles than hehad at his own disposal.The focus of immediate attention was the movement ofHawley’s regiments (comprising of Kerr’s dragoons, and a largepart of Cobham’s, with some Campbell infantry), who beganbreaking down the walls leading into the enclosure protecting theJacobite right. Murray was conscious of the threat, as wereCharles and O’Sullivan. The latter had already advised LordGeorge to move several lowland battalions up from the secondline into the enclosures, but Murray had refused. Neverthelessthe units were brought forward and positioned themselvesaround Culchanaig farm, so as to provide resistance shouldHawley attempt to take the flank.Prince Charles, accompanied by a small mixed troop ofbodyguards – 16 Scots from Elcho’s Lifeguards and 16 Irish ofFitzJames’, took up a position beyond the second line on a loweminence that gave him something of a view. The activity wascalming a little, and Charles was breathing deeply to relieve that148

D EFEAT AT C ULLODENtightness which was growing in his chest. Until the very lastmoment, he had been riding amongst the lines reminding themen assembled there that everything rested on their actions. Heencouraged them not to risk a fire-fight, but to strike forwardsboldly. Spotting Hawley’s activities, Charles now sent positiveorders for Murray to order a defence of the enclosures, but theorder fell on deaf ears. From his eminence he could seeBallimore’s Campbells moving into the enclosure, and that theywould soon be able to form along the wall at right angles toCumberland’s left. The dragoons moved on into the steep hollowbeside the river Nairn, and the view of them was obscured fromthere. It was approaching one o’clock, intermittent showers of icysleet blasting into the Jacobite positions from behind the enemyand adding to the discomfort of the long stand-off. The Prince,determined that boldness was the key to success as always, sentorders for Lord George Murray to begin the attack.Charles was anxious of Hawley’s attempted encirclement, andnow sent O’Sullivan to Murray ordering him to resist it and openproceedings. Further reinforcements moved off to the right tojoin Gordon’s battalions and most of the cavalry forming up nearCulchunaig. At this moment, with Murray pointedly ignoringO’Sullivan’s presence as well as Charles’ orders, Cumberland hadspotted what looked like an artillery battery on Murray’s flank.Lord Bury was sent forwards to investigate whether it was indeeda concealed enemy battery. At his approach, Lord George Murray– who was showing reluctance to launch an attack without firstknowing his enemy’s intentions – ordered the gun to open fire.The Prince’s heart leapt as the first gun fired, quickly joined bythe rest of the Jacobite cannon which were dispersed across thelength of the front line. The fire rippled across the line, theassorted guns, some once belonging to Sir John Cope, blastedforth to the cheers of the highlanders. Bonnets were cast into theair and the army let out a mighty huzzah. The stand-off was over,and the battle had begun. Just a minute later, with some of theJacobite guns having just released their second fire, the 3lb149

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITcannon of Cumberland’s army decided to respond. The Jacobiteswere about to receive their first experience of the Royal Artillery’sprofessional gunnery.For Cumberland’s gun crews, the work was not easy. The shotfrom the Jacobite guns was landing successfully both within thefirst and seconds lines of the infantry, and although they werebetter trained and more proficient, the Royal Artillerymen werehindered by the weather. As the royal cannon burst forth theirflame, the powder smoke was quickly snatched by the wind andcarried across the no-man’s land between the two armies. Soon,the Jacobite lines were virtually invisible to the gun crews,shrouded in the smoke of both armies, and further obscured by thereturning rain. In such conditions, their shots were less effectivethan has often been supposed. As the cannon recoiled, the trailsdug into the soft wet earth: the firing was inconsistent and thework was tough, but the pressure on the Jacobites was continuous.Our cannon fired before that of the enemy which did not domuch damage.Sir John MacDonaldFor the Jacobites, the cheers soon gave way to defiant roars as thebattle quickly intensified. The enemy cannon were firing rapidly,the round shot coming in at a low trajectory so as to bounce intotheir ranks. Although the booming crack of the guns was deeplyintimidating, many of the balls were ploughing into the soddensoft earth, failing to bounce and embedding themselves safely inthe moor. As the fog of war covered their lines and stung theireyes, Jacobite soldiers were enduring a new battlefield experience.They had little sense of what was happening, as visibility wasreduced significantly by the smoke and the rain, and as theyhuddled behind their targes to protect their faces from theweather, the air seemed thick with the thumps of fallingcannonballs. Overhead, the air was cut by shot clearing the frontline, as the British gunners lost their targets to the fog. Adjusting150

D EFEAT AT C ULLODENtrajectory to compensate for the soft earth, many of the cannonrounds were now overshooting. Although this rescued thehighland ranks from being lashed by shot, the experience was noless terrifying; the army was soon straining to attack. Worse, theshot flying over the heads of the front rankers was now fallingamongst those further back.The whole fury of the enemy’s Artillery seemed to be directedagainst us in the rear; as if they had noticed where the Princewas.John DanielProbably by chance, then, the Prince’s person came under attack.Shot quickly began to fall amongst the cavalry reserve, woundingseveral. A ball plunged into the ground in front of PrinceCharles, panicking his horse, spraying his face and jacket withmud. Over the deafening roar of the cannons of both armies, andstruggling to shout through the smoke and wind, Charles calledfor his groom for a remount. Perhaps his own horse waswounded, perhaps it was simply too conspicuous. Thomas Cawled up a replacement, and Charles prepared to receive it.Suddenly Caw’s head was blown away, the shot also striking thehorse in the shoulder. Charles, to whom the horrors of war werenever more immediate than now, turned to see one hisLifeguards, Austin, recovering the pistols from the saddle holstersof his mount, which was slumped in the mud and missing a leg.[These close shots] made some about the Prince desire that hewould be pleased to retire a little off; but this he refused to do,till seeing the imminent danger from the number of balls thatfell about him, he was by the earnest entreaties of his friendsforced to retire a little off, attended only by Lord Balmerino’scorps. Frequent looks and turns the Prince made, to see how hismen behaved.John Daniel151

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITCharles led the men down into a low hollow to their right, wherethey gained some reprieve from the intensity of the cannon-fire.Daniel himself, an English Lifeguard carrying an identifiablestandard, was ordered back onto the eminence in order toprevent the damage to morale which might ensue from the flag’swithdrawal. By the time he got there, the eminence was litteredwith the bodies of Bagot’s Hussars. This small regiment had beenmoved towards the centre and had suffered heavily from theartillery, and Charles soon had the survivors removed to aposition rear of the left, near the Culloden enclosures, to gainsome cover. It was a sad end for this most romantic regiment,those hard working and aggressive scouts, with their proud furcaps and tartan short-coats.The Prince now rode over to the right wing, coming up withthe regiments lining to face Hawley, whose regiments were nowclear of the enclosures and would soon threaten the Jacobite rear.Suddenly, the man who had lost the battle of Falkirk was facedwith an ordered Jacobite resistance of cavalry and lowlandinfantry, lining the top of the slope and blocking his progression.Despite Murray’s refusal to bring troops into the enclosures, theJacobite reserve would thus successfully check Hawley’smanoeuvre, for the time being.All this had occurred with a space of about ten minutes.Unwilling to stand and receive Cumberland’s fire, the highlandtroops were keen for the attack. Charles had already ordered it.Murray had dismissed the earliest attack order, as the armies werenot yet fully formed, and the messenger now sent to reiterate itwas caught out by another of those stray cannon balls. At last, theorder to charge got through. The messenger, Ker of Graden, wentfirst to the Duke of Perth, and then rode down the line from leftto right giving the order to surge forwards. Murray’s men, closestto the enemy, received the order last. Charles, now arriving nearCulchunaig, was unable to see exactly what occurred next alongmuch of the line, as he was still keeping a wary eye on Hawley.Nevertheless, he saw his line lurch forwards in a wave, the shouts152

D EFEAT AT C ULLODENof his highlanders building to a roar audible even over thecontinued pounding of the cannon.The charge, no sooner had it begun, started to unravel. On theleft, the ground quickly became sodden and boggy, which slowedthe advance to a walk. In the centre, things were hotter: sincemuch of the Jacobite right was sheltered by the enclosures, mostof the British cannon were trained on the central regiments. Asthey surged forwards, the cannon lashed them with grapeshotwhich tore through the packed units with murderous effect.Flinching away from the killing zone in the centre, disorientatedby the smoke blowing over from the enemy guns, and striving forfirmer ground than the boggy centre, the centre began incliningleft along the line of the old Inverness road. They collided withMurray on the right, and suddenly, shortly after they had pausedto fire their single volley, the Jacobite right was pressed againstthe enclosure walls by the centre, and the whole lot became onesingle terrifying mass of bodies.Their lines were formed so thick and deep that the grapeshotmade open lanes quite through them, the men dropping downby wholesale.Michael HughesWith canister shot bursting through their packed ranks, theJacobite charge was suffering terrible casualties as it pressedahead. For the government infantryman on the left, it was anastonishing sight. This was the charge that had swept away theircomrades at Prestonpans and Falkirk. It was an immense weightof swirling swords and horrifying war cries, and it was stillcoming on despite the best work of the cannon crews.Nevertheless, swallowing hard and biting down on their tension,they waited. When the Jacobite mass was about 50 metres away,at last the order was given. The rippling platoon fire burst fromthe triple ranks of Brown Bess muskets at a range that could notfail to strike the targets, and the withering fire carved into the153

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITmassed ranks. But momentum brought them ever forwards.There was hardly a moment to recover before the charge struckhome.Barrell’s regiment burst open like wet paper, under theimmense pressure of about eight hundred men colliding withtheir line. Munro’s was under pressure too, but holding. The firstJacobites fell to the shoulder high bayonets of the redcoat line,but the impetus of the charge drove the highland ranks throughand over their comrades. Watching his left falter, Cumberlandsteadied his second line and General Huske has brought up fourregiments to contain the Jacobite breakthrough. Unlike theprevious battles of the war, the British infantry did not now beginto rout en masse, and as the Jacobite soldiers struggled to fightthrough the disordered ranks of Barrell’s regiment, they weremown down in great numbers by the withering fire of Bligh’s,Ligonier’s, Sempill’s and Wolfe’s. The bodies were now piling up,the momentum was stalled, and the battle was being lost.On the left, the MacDonalds had failed to close with theBritish infantry, and had equally failed to persuade their enemyto engage them. Contrary to Charles’ orders, they began toengage in a fire-fight they could never hope to win. Over to theirright, they soon became aware that the main attack had failed,whilst to their now exposed left, Kingston’s Horse and about sixtyof Cobham’s (the rest were with Hawley) were now movingagainst their flank. Accordingly, and having lost a number ofsenior officers, the Jacobite left began to fall back.Meanwhile, Lord George had pressed his way out of thedreadful carnage on the Jacobite right, and managed to bring theRoyal Ecossois, the Irish Picquets, and Kilmarnock’s Footguardsup in support of the main assault. These were virtually all thatremained of the second line, most of the rest being used to holdback Hawley, and they could at least provide some regular fire tomaintain pressure on Cumberland’s front line. Although theJacobites had inflicted heavy casualties on point of contact, theirbreakthrough was contained and the second line of redcoats had154

D EFEAT AT C ULLODENheld its ground. The Jacobite right stalled, stopped dead, thensurged backwards across the moor.Charles was still unable to see what was happening, but it soonbecame clear that the tide had turned against him. The intensityof the firing coming from the right flank must have been adreadful sound, increasing as the breakthrough was halted. Therewere agonising moments of uncertainty as the Prince strained heview through the acrid smoke, always watching his back also,where Hawley was on the brink of crossing the stream to engage.Suddenly, the sound of the musket fire was closer than before.Beyond view, and protected by the enclosure walls, theCampbells had begun pouring shot into the open flank of theJacobite right. Moment later, through the smoke emerged thosefirst blurry figures of the rear-ranking highlanders. The poorestequipped and the least motivated, these were the first to flee fromthe death trap. The rout spread like fire across the Jacobitefrontage, and as the left wing edged away from the redcoats, itwas charged by Kingston’s horse and the men quickly began tostream away in disorder.Prince Charles immediately realised that he was witnessing thecomplete collapse of his army. Accordingly, he was seized by thedesperate need to rally his broken forces. He rode up towardswhere the centre-right of the second line had originally deployed,and began to exhort his men to stand. Around him, the moorwas now covered in fleeing highlanders, whilst the gunscontinued to fire off to the right. As the Jacobite army fledwholesale along the Inverness road, Charles attempted to rallywhat had once been his right wing.Rally, in the name of God. Pray, gentlemen, return. Pray standwith me, your Prince, but a moment – otherwise you ruin me,your country and yourselves; and God forgive you!Charles Edward StuartStraining in the saddle amidst the rout of the Jacobite army, the155

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITcrack of muskets and the smoke of battle, Charles’ efforts were allin vain. His horse bucked his bonnet blew from his head, hisperiwig falling onto the pommel of his saddle. His golden hair,face and clothes splashed with mud, the flank of his horse redwith the blood of his groom, this final image of the Prince inbattle is the very epitome of the fall of the Cause. It was over.O’Sullivan, meanwhile, was on the left with Perth. As he pointedout to Shea, ‘all is going to pot’; he instructed him to secure thePrince. Charles of course ignored all pleas to withdraw.Sullivan... runs to the Prince, and tels him yt he has no time toloose, yt he’l be surrounded immediatly if he does not retir.“Well,” says the Prince, “they wont take me alive.” Sullivanprays him to look behind him, & yt he’d see... half the armywas Away. The Prince look’s, see it is true, every body presseshim, in short he retirs, but does not go far, comes back again,sees this Regimt of horse [Cobham’s or Kingston’s] very nearour left, sees it is time & retirs.John William O’SullivanIt had become clear that all was lost, and Charles could no longerbe of service to his army. The defeat was total, and there was nowa clear risk of the dragoons cutting the Inverness road andtrapping Charles on the moor. After the desperate efforts of thePrince to rally the men, he seems now to have frozen. He wassurrounded by officers shouting at him, begging him to retire. Hewas torn between the need to escape and his inability to abandonhis army. Not only was it contrary to his vow to die with hissword in his hand, but quitting the field was to acknowledgedefeat. He at last pulled back a little, but then again rode up tosee what was happening. There were still bodies engaged: thePicquets were executing a fighting withdrawal back across themoor towards the left; the Ecossois were falling back along thepark walls on the right, still firing. The reserve was in good order,firing along with the cavalry at Kerr’s dragoons. Perhaps there was156

D EFEAT AT C ULLODENstill hope? But each of these pockets of resistance was isolatedamidst a sea of fleeing men, and the pressure from the guns to thefront and the cavalry on both flanks was telling. Charles’indecision was finally ended when his bridle was seized and hishorse was physically dragged off the field, the Prince no longercalling out to his fleeing subjects but stunned into silent as heabsorbed the enormity of the disaster. He was accompanied bythose bodyguards that remained with him, and also by theregiments of Gordon of Glenbucket and the Duke of Perth, whowere likewise attempting to withdraw from the left wing in someorder.Behind Prince Charles, the battle continued to rage. Hawleycrossed the stream into the teeth of the fire from Gordon’sbattalions, Elcho, and the remaining Franco-Irish cavalry;numbers soon told and the Jacobite reserve at length began toyield. As they fell back, they inadvertently doomed the survivingRoyal Ecossois. Falling back from the front line into the shelter ofthe enclosure walls on the Jacobite right, they came under firefrom Ballimore’s Campbells. These men had checked theCampbells when they attempted to leave the enclosure and cutthe Franco-Scots off from retreat, killing Ballimore and a numberof others, and driving them back behind the walls. All this onlyto find Hawley’s dragoons blacking the path ahead of them. Partof the Regiment broke off and managed to escape, but the restnow accepted their fate and surrendered. Their commandingofficer was amongst their wounded.To the Jacobite left, the Irish Picquets were faring little betterin their effort to fight their way off the field. Faced with thesquadrons of Cobham’s dragoons that had routed the left, thePicquets were forced to halt their withdrawal. A disciplinedvolley checked the dragoons’ advance, but they soon rallied andcharged home. The small regiment was overwhelmed in aninstant, Stapleton cut down at the head of his men, a hundred ofhis soldiers slaughtered around him as he lay in agony. Thesurvivors managed to escape into the Culloden Park where they157

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITfound some shelter, and attempted a little further resistance.Soon they too were forced to surrender. Some time before, aFrench professional gunner had reached the field with a team ofartillerymen, and had attempted to make a stand with one of thePrince’s guns, and although he gained some respite for the fleeingJacobites, he was overcome in turn.Major General Bland had also made great Slaughter, & gaveQuarter to None but about Fifty French Officers and Soldiersthat He picked up in his Pursuit.William, Duke of CumberlandIt is unclear what happened to Lord George Murray during thisperiod, and he is variously described as one of the last to leave thefield and one of the first. Those remaining units, mainly thelowland regiments engaged by Kerr’s dragoons, managed afighting retreat away from the field. They moved in a hollowsquare across country to Balvraid, gathering some of the fugitivesinto the relative safety of their ranks, and ultimately managed toescape in good order to Ruthven and link up with many otherrefugees. In the meantime, the British dragoons choked the roadto Inverness with bodies as they pursued the helpless fugitives tothe city, giving full vent to their hatred. Prestonpans and Falkirkhad been avenged, and the ’45 was over. Never again would apitched battle be fought on the British mainland.158

The Fugitive PrinceCulloden marked the end of the war that had given Charles hisauthority and his purpose. Although he could not have known itas he was dragged away from the field, it also marked thebeginning of a new phase in his young life. From the afternoon ofApril 16th 1746, Charles Edward Stuart was no longer a militarycommander, the saviour of a nation, but a man on the run andwith a heavy price on his head. Nor were his fugitive daysconfined to his time in Scotland, for he was to remain on the runlong after he finally escaped, constantly operating under falsenames and often in disguise, for over a decade. These years, whenhe was in the prime of his life but denied a moment’s peace orsatisfaction, were the ones that most decisively broke him.After the defeat of his army, Charles made his way southtowards the friendly territory into which he had thrust himselfthe previous summer. He is often portrayed, especially by thosewho pay too much attention to the sniping of Lord Elcho, ashaving turned his back on Scotland at that moment, giving uphis cause and leaving his friends at the mercy of their enemies.This is far from the truth, and Charles was in fact all too awarethat the Rising need not end in the immediate wake of Culloden.Nor however was he blind to the disaster that had befallen them:there was no longer any sensible chance of maintaining a formalmilitary campaign, but there remained the option of continuedresistance in the highlands. Although Charles knew that thiscould not win the war, and that guerrilla resistance could not bemaintained for long for want of food and money, it was possiblethat it could tie up enough British forces to allow the French tolaunch an invasion. Everything depended on the attitudes of hissupporters in the aftermath of Culloden.Unfortunately, everything was utterly unravelled by this stage.Charles’ failure to have identified a rendezvous in case of defeatmeant that some units were gathering with Murray at Ruthven159

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITwhilst Charles expected them in the neighbourhood of FortAugustus. 43 With communications becoming increasinglydifficult, and ironically enough, with nobody now willing to offerhim any advice on what to do, the Prince formulated whatseemed to him to be the most sensible response to the situation:Il soon know if my friends can undertake any thing at least toguarde their Contry. If they are, Il join them, & as there is nomony, without wch it is impossible to keep together or subsist, ifthey promise me to keep out, 44 Il go myself to France... Ihope my presence will do more wth the King then any body ICan send.Charles Edward StuartStrategically, what Charles was proposing made some soundsense. If the clans could keep together and fight on in themountains to keep Cumberland busy, then the French might stillcome through. It is also an acknowledgement of Charles’ selfawareness:only his drive, determination, and his personalauthority could hope to prevail upon the French King. Charleswas well aware how reluctant France was to finish the job, and noless a person than he could carry the weight required in thedebates. Besides, he had proven himself now, and Louis wouldneed to take him more seriously than he had in 1744. Either way,as O’Sullivan’s recollections certainly make clear, Charles was notabandoning the Cause, he was just responding to the newsituation in the best way that he could, and key to his planningwas that the clans stayed out. In the letter he sent to the chiefs atthe end of April, he explicitly entrusted their care to Lord GeorgeMurray, whom he believed would stick by them, and he urgedthem to keep the fight alive in his temporary absence.43 The Fort, like Fort George at Inverness and Ruthven in Badenoch, hadrecently fallen to the Jacobites.44 To be “out” meant that you were in arms, that you had left your home tojoin the Standard.160

T HE F UGITIVE P RINCEThere was of course another reason for Charles’ departure. In ahighland guerrilla war he had no role, and after the disagreementsthat had climaxed at Culloden, he was now yielding whatremained of his authority to his council. Murray had underminedhis authority over the chiefs sufficiently for Charles toacknowledge that he could now absent himself. He had notforgotten his treatment, or the failed night march, and in a letterto Sheridan on April 23rd he ominously stated that, ‘we havetraitors among us.’ It is, of course, impossible to prove for surethat he always intended to return, but Charles’ actions onarriving in France seem to suggest that he was not beingduplicitous when he instructed the clans to fight on: he wouldreturn at the head of 20,000 men, he hoped. For if he did not,the Rising really was over. Charles could not have known at thisstage that it was to be five months before he would get hisopportunity to try his luck with King Louis.The months Charles spent on the run in the highlands andislands of Scotland are the months that created his legend. Laterdecades and centuries would drizzle the heather in romance, andthe fugitive prince was to become the image of Charles whichmost endures. It is unfortunate for him that this often leads us toneglect his greater achievements, as well as to overlook thehorrors he had to endure during those long and testing months.However, it is also a period which brings a degree of consensusnot often enjoyed in studies of Prince Charles, since hisperformance in those hard hills highlighted some of his mostadmirable qualities. At worst, it redeemed him in the eyes ofthose who believe his behaviour was wanting at Culloden, whilstat best it vindicates a belief in his more fundamental abilities.Romance, however, must be flung aside. The experienceCharles and his followers suffered in the aftermath of Culloden isone of utter torment. It is remarkable that the Prince physicallysurvived his ordeals, and all the more so in that he largelymanaged to maintain a positive state of mind. He was fortunatein that the years of hunting and training in Italy, and the hard161

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITmonths of campaigning in the winter of 1745/6, had preparedhis body for some of the rigours of that miserable spring andsummer. One of his companions, Neil MacEachainn, later wroteof Charles that, ‘it was wonderful how he preserved his health allthe time,’ but then Charles himself had always acknowledged hiscomfort in the highland environment:I keep my health better in these wild mountains than I used todo in the Campagnie Felice, and sleep sounder lying on the loSept. ground than I used to do in the palaces at Rome.Charles Edward StuartOf course, that was written in happier times when all was goingwell: Perth had just fallen to Charles’ army and the road toEdinburgh was clear. Nevertheless, the Prince was fit and able toendure physical hardship, traversing mountainsides on foot inappalling weather, and sleeping rough. Sometimes, certainlybefore the British army began to really make its presence felt inthe region, the party were lucky and good accommodation couldbe found with friends who could be trusted. Very quickly,however, movement became more difficult and shelter andsupplies ever less reliable. There are a multitude of examples ofthe difficulties faced by the fugitives, and more than need bequoted here, but an account written for the Duke of York in1751 makes the point well:Edward 45 crouched like a lizard, flattened into a crevice.Sullivan and O’Neill found similar shelters. Their food was nobetter than their lodging, for it consisted of grass torn up by theroots. Their only drink was a sip of brandy.Giulio Cesare Cordara45 It was the French custom, even in contemporary Parisian newspapers, torefer to Charles as le Prince Edouard. Cordara was a respected literarycharacter of his day, and his text contains valuable anecdotes.162

T HE F UGITIVE P RINCEIt has already been seen that Prince Charles had the ability todisguise his thoughts and misfortunes by putting on a smile and abrave face. It is something that he had done throughout thecampaign, largely for political purposes, and which had probablyhelped him overcome his own concerns as much as it reassuredhis friends. It is this quality which shines through most duringthese days as a highland fugitive. O’Sullivan tells us that on the19th April, just days after Culloden, the Prince, ‘got some milk,cruds, & butter, at one MccDonels, & was as satisfied & eat of it, aswell as if he had the best cheer yt ever he made.’ Although this was ameal he would soon long for, especially when he reached the grasseating stage, the important point is that he was making the bestof his situation. On South Uist, Charles refused to abandon theparty’s supplies when their boat was approached by a patrol, andhe dragged the food to the boat whilst the crew prepared theirhurried escape. Evacuating his dinner, under fire by this stage,Charles exclaimed cheerfully, “A Gad, they shall never say yt wewere so pressed, yt we abandoned our meat.” He was still forcing asmile, still conscious of his status and the opinions of thosearound him. Honour, and the appearance of it, was vital toCharles’ image of himself and his place in his world.The Prince was standing, his hands upon one of those planks ytcrosses the boat, encourageing the saillors & all those yt werehelping to throw out the watter; a furious weave comes &throws the Prince flatte again the other side of the boat, thePrince cries out “there is no hurt, there is no hurt.”John William O’SullivanNaturally, as time went on and conditions worsened, withscratchy reports reaching Charles of the savage reprisals occurringacross the country, the ordeal began to take its toll on thefugitives. However fit he was, Charles’ body had to endureextraordinary punishment. By the 5th May, O’Sullivan describeshim being, ‘in a terrible condition setting aside cold & hunger163

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITwithout even complaining,’ but worse of all his shoes had disintegratedin the sodden ground, and his feet were lacerated andhis, ‘toes were quit stript.’ By the 18th June, he noted Charles’,‘legs & thy’s cut all over from the bryers,’ and walking by this timemust have become an extremely painful experience for all ofthem. On the other side of Scotland, the man who had chargedbeside Charles at Prestonpans was enduring something similar:My toes were now in a most wretched condition, bruised andcut to the very bone, and the marks of these wounds willremain on them as long as I live.James JohnstoneJohnstone was having to stop at every stretch of water to batheand clean his torn feet, and to peel off the filthy stockings whichrisked infecting his wounds. Writing these lines many years laterfrom exile in Paris, it is easy to image the former soldier lookingdown upon his scarred legs and feet and remembering the pain.Nor did Prince Charles’ legs ever really recover, and they wouldtrouble him to his end.The poor diet, the constant exposure to the elements, and thephysical endurance test, affected Charles’ constitution badly. Hehad been dangerously ill several times during the campaignalready, perhaps suffering from dysentery, and now he againdeclined gravely: ‘he took a lossenesse, wch turned into a bloody flux.He’d not let a soul know but old Sainclair, he grew so low & so pealyt Sullivan was frightend out of his witts.’ The fact that Charlesseems to have recommended his own remedy implies he wasfamiliar with such bouts of illness by this time. O’Sullivan, whoadmits to his own exhaustion during the campaign itself, wasnow enduring the same troubles as his friend, and he too fell ill.He had also been unwell during the later stages of the campaign,being bled whilst Cumberland crossed the Spey, but these currenttrials laid him dangerously low. Luckily, Charles himself was stillvigorously determined and intent on pulling them all through.164

T HE F UGITIVE P RINCEPerhaps the sight of his friend’s illness was enough to sustain hisown spirits, by drawing out his inner strength. When he wasadvised to leave O’Sullivan behind:Edward [Charles], with no thought but for Sullivan, made ascomfortable a bed for him as he could with the sailors cloaksand had him laid on it. Then sitting by him on the bareground, he tried to cheer him up.Giulio Cesare CordaraThere are few clearer tributes to the close friendship of these twomen, as well as to the effect of their trials. Each day brought newdanger, the threat of death from sickness, exposure, starvation, orthe hangman. Charles was more dependent than ever on thosearound him, and entirely at the mercy of the highlanders andislanders. It is a remarkable tribute to those people that, despitethe threats and indecencies of the British army on Charles’ tail,and despite the life-changing sums offered as a reward, he wasnever handed over. 46 That is not to say, of course, that nobodyknew where he was. The accounts of those who were involved inthese events clearly identify the fact that communication wassurprisingly far ranging and that Charles would not have escapedwere it not for the efforts of men and women great and small,many of whom owed him nothing and who had shown nointerest in rising for his Cause. It may have been his charms, theaura which already surrounded his name, or merely his pitiablesituation. Whatever the motivation was, very ordinary peoplewere repeatedly moved to risk all they had for this man, at a timewhen he could offer them nothing in return but a smile. Charleswas, despite what his detractors may suggest, eternally grateful:46 One young man who bore a resemblance to Charles was butchered withinsight of the Prince, his head paraded to Inverness for inspection. Some,then, had an eye on the reward.165

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITI have parted (I thank God) as intended. Make mycompliments to all those to whom I have given trouble.Charles Edward StuartDespite all the Prince’s efforts to maintain his cheer, the psychologicalstrain of all he had endured eventually began to show. Hewas already drained by the long winter campaigning and thebattle of wills with his council, and after being on the run for amonth, ‘the Prince began to be very low, tho’ he did what he cou’dnot to appear so.’ O’Sullivan had always been able to see deeperinto Charles’ mind than others, and he could tell the pressure wasgetting to them both. It is interesting to notice that, especiallywhen dealing with Flora MacDonald, Charles had become rathermore malleable than had ever before been seen. He yielded, forexample, to the suggestion that he left behind his solid companionFelix O’Neil, against his own instinct, on June 28th. The loss ofthis friend was keenly felt, for Charles had also just left O’Sullivanbehind, and he must have felt increasingly vulnerable without suchestablished comrades. That same day, when suffering the indignityof transforming into Betty Burke, he somewhat meekly yielded toFlora’s insistence that he abandoned his pistols, an equallydisagreeable act for a man in danger. For most of his long life,Charles would never allow himself to be far from a weapon. Onthis occasion, he covered his assent with a joke, again attemptingto make light of his situation. Flora insisted the weapons wouldgive him away if he was searched: Charles insisted that if anysearch went so far as to find his pistols (which he had stuffed intohis breeches beneath his skirts), then it was hardly the firearmsthat would give him away! Flora MacDonald seems to have beenable to make Charles yield in a way no men, let alone women,would ever again be able. As much as this is a tribute to aremarkably spirited woman, it is also a clear sign that Charles’spirit was struggling to keep pace with his adventures.The Prince desperately tried to cling on to life and to sanity,finding solace not only in the close friendships he struck up in166

T HE F UGITIVE P RINCEthose dark days, but also in more familiar comforts. It is recalledby O’Sullivan that he, ‘ust to go & fish from time to time, ytamused him & helpt him to live.’ The writer’s tone clearly hintsthat Charles was struggling, and that such activity was not just toprovide food but to create a diversion that assisted his mentalbalance. Charles showed flashes of his abilities even whenO’Sullivan lay sick:He [Prince Charles] chanced to catch sight of a large bird, notunlike a duck, resting on the edge of a pond. Going close up toit, he took one of the two pistols which he always carried fromhis pocket and aimed so well that he shot it dead. He wentback to the hut, overjoyed at his prize and had it boiled atonce. He himself helped not merely with the utmost eagerness,but what is still more astonishing, with extraordinary skill.Giulio Cesare CordaraHowever, by following the stories of Charles’ time in the heatherit is clear that there is a shift in balance. The once temporary lowperiods gradually became the norm, whilst the smiles andenergetic resilience became occasional and ever more fleeting.After all, how much suffering and torment can a twenty-fiveyear-oldbe expected to endure? Worse still, Charles wasconscious that he shouldered the indirect responsibility for all theacts of brutality which he was becoming aware of, being inflictedupon the very people who were hiding him. To further increasehis misery, there is the deeply troubling nature of having to beentirely dependent on strangers, in an atmosphere in which itwas becoming ever harder to tell friend from foe. In early July,MacDonald of Morar refused to be involved with assistingCharles’ escape, and the Prince offered up a desperate prayerwhich hints at his feelings:Oh God Almighty, look down on my circumstances and pityme; for I am in a most melancholy situation. Some of those167

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITwho joined me at first, and appeared to be fast friends, nowturn their backs on me in my greatest need.Charles Edward StuartIn the end, it was Charles’ most steadfast and most frequentlyunderrated companion that played the greatest part in rescuinghim. After a successful escape to Scandinavia, O’Sullivan hadmanaged to return to Paris and provide positive information ofCharles’ probable movements and how best he might berecovered. Eventually, exactly a year after he had stood on FalsideHill surveying Johnnie Cope’s battle lines, and from the samerocky beach where he had first stepped onto the mainland,Charles Edward Stuart climbed into a French launch and partedScotland forever. For all his hopes and dreams of returning at thehead of a French army, and after all that he had endured for thesake of his father’s crown, he must have known inside him thatthis was the end. Lochaber No More. He might have wept, werehis body and his mind not so totally exhausted, and his fragileheart not already so irreparably fractured.During the return voyage, however, Charles found his strengthagain. He had a mission again, beyond mere survival, and it wasin his mission that Charles had always found his greatest drive.Upon his arrival on the French coast, he was immediately foraction. True to his word, he set about persuading the King tofollow up the Rising with renewed military activity. FromMorlaix, he wrote to his brother that he had returned safe andwell, but most importantly that, ‘it is an absolute necessity I mustsee ye F.K. [the French King] as soon as possible, for to bring thingsto a write head.’In his absence, Charles had in fact become something of ahero to the French people. He can hardly have looked like one,with his battered body and, according to O’Sullivan, the bleedingsores from the midge bites which made him appear as, ‘if he wascover’d with ulsers.’ Nevertheless, when he discarded his liceriddenwig, amongst other unwanted items, it was pounced upon168

T HE F UGITIVE P RINCEby the numerous French women who competed for mementos ofhis presence. The legend of the Bonnie Prince was already apopular fantasy.In this environment, and to his own relief and satisfaction,Charles was given almost instant access to the King of Francewho received him at Fontainbleau with the warmth which hadbeen so noticeably absent during their former dealings. It was notan official visit, and he maintained his incognito, but Charles wasalso received by the Queen and he left with all hope that hemight yet gain some assistance. Louis captured the views of hispeople when he told Charles:My very dear Prince... you have shown that all the greatqualities of both heroes and philosophers are united in you andI hope that one day you will receive the just reward of suchoutstanding merit.Louis XV, King of FranceCharles was soon received, rather more formally, at Versailles, bywhich time he had fitted himself out with new clothes and anappropriate cavalcade. He had also been joined by O’Sullivan,and went out to the palace in the company of other loyalsupporters: Glenbucket, Lords Ogilvy and Lewis Gordon, andCameron of Lochiel. It was intended as a demonstration toFrance that the backbone of the Rising yet survived, and mostimportantly that Charles’ family was of equal royal status to theFrench king’s, and deserved to be taken seriously. All the pompwas intended to create political pressure, not to elevate egos.Better still, it excited the Parisian populace to fever-pitch. Louis,however, was as slippery as ever, and although the reception wasgrand and welcoming, Charles was unable to gain a privateaudience and present his petition. Louis knew he owed Charles adebt for the distraction he had caused King George, and for hisown failure to come good adequately on his promises. No doubtthe horrors Charles had endured also excited a degree ofawkwardness in Louis’ conscience. With the people cheering at169

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITthe gates, the King was obliged to receive Charles well, and surelygenuinely admired the achievements, but war in Europe was hispriority, and increasingly as time went on, an appropriatesettlement. A written plea for 20,000 men went unanswered, andCharles was forced to wait.Charles was recovering physically, although he mentions about of illness when writing to his father, and he was so wellfavoured in Paris that he received a standing ovation simply byarriving at the Opera. He maintained something of his sense ofhumour, joking when he told the story of his time with FloraMacDonald: ‘I was as yu may believe a servant maid of a good size!’It is easy to believe that during this time, Charles had somehowforgotten the sufferings of his supporters and the tormentsoccurring in Scotland. However, it must be remembered thatCharles’ repeated visits to the Opera were as much a political actas his writing to the King. He doubted Louis’ sincerity, and wasplaying on his public support in the city as leverage against thegovernment. At the same time, with Louis’ silence regardingrenewed action, Charles had little else to do. All the smiles at theopera were as much a facade as the grand balls had been inGlasgow. It is not comfortable to think what happened when thePrince laid his head down to sleep: ‘How can yu imagine... yt I canenjoy any pleasure, when I have continually before my eyes, thecruelty wth wch my poor friends are traited.’ There were nowimages in his head that would haunt him forever.Despite his popularity, Charles’ political situation began todeteriorate quickly. He was getting nothing out of the French,and he was unable to contain his frustration at this lack ofproactive support from the Court. He was sensing all too keenlythat the opportunity was slipping away from him, and that all thesuffering had been in vain. When Cardinal Tencin eventuallysuggested that French support could be secured in return forIreland, Charles lost his temper: “Non, Monsieur le cardinal, toutou rien! point de partage! point de partage!” It was the creedCharles had always lived by.170

T HE F UGITIVE P RINCEWorryingly for his supporters, the Prince’s fragile state of mindand the months of idle waiting were drawing the Prince to drinkever more frequently. He was no stranger to the bottle, havingdemonstrated his abilities as a social drinker throughout thecampaign, but now alcohol was becoming his escape route.Charles was also losing the enthusiasm for diplomacy, themastery of which had enabled his charms to achieve so much inScotland. To his father, he laid down an open and rather accurateassessment of the French court which not only exposes Charles’lack of naivety, but also his increasing abandonment of tact.For that Kind of vermin [the French Court], the more yougive them the more the’l take, as also the more room you givethem, the more they have to grapple at, which makes itnecessary to be Laconick with them.Charles Edward StuartCharles’ situation became more complicated as yet moresurvivors of the Rising made their presence felt on the Continent.The French happily granted pensions to loyal supporters of theStuarts, and cherry-picked the most promising for careers in theFrench army. To Charles, this was not the warm gesture ofsupport which it had been intended to suggest, but rather anadmission that nothing was going to happen to aid the restorationof King James. As much as it helped those individuals whohad lost out by supporting Charles, the French pension schemesdeprived the Prince of a loyal base in Paris which was ready forimmediate action. Worse still, and somewhat inevitably after theRising’s collapse, there was now a rush to shift blame and protectreputations. Charles, as the faction head, suffered most by this.After all, now that he was back on the continent Charles heldlittle authority. He was no longer the most senior representativeof the Cause: all that he must now yield to his father.Instead of returning in person to the Stuart court in exile,Charles dispatched O’Sullivan to Rome with orders to provide171

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITKing James with a full and frank account of what had takenplace. This led to the creation of his immensely valuable,although hastily, written narrative of the Rising. James wassatisfied with the conduct of both his son and O’Sullivan, andwould soon grant the latter a knighthood at Charles’ request.However, the version of events the Irishman had put down wassoon challenged by other accounts which began to emerge. ToCharles’ immense frustration, as has been seen, Lord GeorgeMurray successfully persuaded the King of his own viewpoint,doubtlessly to Charles’ detriment. Charles had not forgivenMurray’s conduct in the war, and accordingly refused to admithim into his presence, warning the King that meeting Murrayonce made a very different impression to having to work withhim. Murray at least had the courtesy to cause no further trouble.More immediately damaging to Charles’ position in Paris was therather more vigorous hostility of the young Lord Elcho.Elcho had always been quick-tempered, and clearly held hisown abilities in some regard, but he was also dangerously loosetongued.He had long recognised his youthful naivety in havingbeen swept away with the Stuart Cause, but now he was alsodiscovering the consequences of his attitude during the war. Histhreats of military execution, often used to cow unyieldingsettlements as he prepared the way for the main army’s progress,had made him an unenviable reputation which had alienated himfrom former friends in government circles. 47 As a result, hisapplication for a pardon fell on deaf ears in the British government.At the same time, Charles refused to see him because hehad applied for a pardon so soon after the Rising, and Elchotherefore found few friends in Paris and became increasingly ofbitter towards Charles and the Cause. By too often saying exactlywhat he thought, he was soon considered to be, ‘detached,’ fromthe Stuarts. With Charles’ popularity at its peak, Elcho was47 There was a rumour that Elcho had proposed mutilating prisoners toprevent them from using weapons if they escaped. It was most probablymalicious, but the mud stuck.172

T HE F UGITIVE P RINCEtherefore somewhat marginalised. Elcho saw Charles as the agentof all his misfortunes (including the loss of his money, loaned atEdinburgh), Elcho soon drew unwelcome attention uponhimself: ‘I received a visit from a gentleman sent to tell me thatshould I speak ill of the Prince I would be sent to the Bastille.’Charles had friends in high places, and now that he no longerhad immediate need for the quarrelsome individuals on whom hehad relied in Scotland, he saw little reason to tolerate theircontinued impertinence.It is not surprising, in this environment of blame andrecrimination, that Charles became increasingly uncertain of theloyalty of those around him, and began to isolate himself frommany of those associated with the ’45. Likewise, as Charlesbecame more irascible and defensive, and as more people tried todissociate themselves with him in order to protect theirreputations or increase their hopes of a pardon, they began todesert him in turn. Elcho claims that all the Scotsmen in Pariscame to his side, and Charles was now in the familiar position ofbeing unable to tell friend from foe. The more Charles attemptedto re-assert himself, the more isolated he became. His politicalposition was fragile, and now he was forced to fight against hissupposed friends, not this time for his authority, but for hisreputation. It was a battle he seemed increasingly unwilling, andunable, to fight.Besides, Charles was already fighting against French apathyand the resultant frustration and depression, but he remainedeager to find a resolution to his woes. Always happier whenproactive, the Prince went to Spain to elicit support, but foundan even less welcome atmosphere there than amongst the Frenchministers. He was becoming sharp tempered and angry, and evermore concerned over the prospects of an end to the war betweenBritain and France. Then, in April 1747, Charles suffered hisgreatest blow since Culloden the previous year.Prince Henry had come to France in his brother’s wake in1745, and was held in readiness to lead a French invasion of173

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITEngland in support of Charles if the latter was able to approachLondon. Since Charles’ return to Paris, they had lived separatelybut in close contact. Always closer to their father than Charles,Henry had been keeping up regular communication with theKing regarding his brother’s activities, which bred some suspicionconsidering Charles agitated mind, and some further claim thatHenry had grown resentful of Charles’ achievements andpopularity. He also had his own concern, unknown to hisbrother. One evening, Prince Henry invited Charles to dinner athis house in the city, which was fully prepared to receive so fameda figure. The Prince attended and waited for his brother, nodoubt a little impatiently. As time went on, Charles becameincreasingly agitated. He was all too aware that British agentswere never far behind him and was understandably wary ofassassins. It is easy to imagine the increasing unease he must havefelt when, as midnight approached, there was still no word fromhis host. Charles withdrew anxiously, worry and anger combined.What he could not have imagined is that Henry, having divertedhis brother, had left Paris for Rome, in order to be ordained.Charles eventually received a letter from Henry informing hisbrother that he was safe, but on the road. It was not until June,however, that Charles finally received the news that Prince HenryBenedict had become Cardinal York. It was a heavy blow toCharles, who had so often said that his own life mattered the lessfor knowing he had a brother to follow him. Now Henry was apolitical liability, irrevocably associated with the CatholicChurch, and dynastically useless on account of his celibacy.Charles was the last Stuart who could produce an heir, somethingwhich heaped pressure upon him that he scarcely needed at thispoint. Father Myles MacDonell wrote to King James that, ‘HisR.H. the Prince (I am told, for I don’t go near him) has shut himselfup for several hours alone upon hearing that news... he is teasedabout his safety, and made to believe that his life will be in danger,being now alone and unmarried.’ On a personal level, Charles felthe had been humiliated and deceived, betrayed not only by his174

T HE F UGITIVE P RINCEbrother but by James also. When he had recovered from thenews, he wrote frankly to his father:Had I got a Dager throw my heart it woud not have been moresensible to me than at ye Contents of yr first [letter]. My Lovefor my Brother and Concern for yr Case being the occasion of it.I hope your Majesty will forgive me not entering any further onso disagreeable a subject the shock of which I am scarce out of, soshall take ye Liberty of referring to next Post anything in yoursto be answered. I lay myself full of Respect & Duty at yrMajestys feet moste humbly asking Blessing.Charles Edward StuartJames’ letter informing Charles of the decision, and the mannerin which it was done, make it clear that both he and Henry knewhow the Prince would react and understood his reasons.Undoubtedly Henry was a pious man, and perhaps naturallyinclined for a career in the Church were his circumstancesordinary. But in the end his decision was as much to do with hishomosexuality as his faith: as a churchman, he had his excuse notto be interested in marriage. The scandal of Henry’s sexualorientation could have been more damaging to the Cause eventhan its solution. Whatever Henry’s motive, however, andregardless of how useful his position would eventually make himto Charles, it ruined the brothers’ relationship; henceforthCharles would neither trust Henry nor Kings James. Never hadCharles felt more alone, more bitterly disappointed, nor morecruelly treated.Fortunately, he was able to find some consolation by turningto the comfortable family atmosphere of the du Bouillons. Theygave him the personal respect and warmth that he now so badlyneeded, as well as allowing an escape from Paris and the constantintrigues and reminders of his failure. It should have been theatmosphere which would restore Charles’ spirits and rally hismind. Sadly, he simply walked from one fire to the next, falling175

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITinto a passionate love affair with his married cousin, Louise deMontbazon. The affair developed as they spent increasingamounts of time together in the country, with Louise’ husbandaway at war. For the first and probably only time in his life,Charles Edward Stuart was genuinely in love. It was exactly whathe needed, but it is easy to understand how the passionateemotions of two people in their twenties clashed horribly withthe reality that their love was forbidden. The result was a disasterfor both protagonists, as a succession of events saw Louise’sfamily discover their secret, forcing her to end the relationship.Charles, thwarted once again, lost control of his passions andthere were ugly scenes when he fired a pistol in the street uponbeing refused entry to the house, and when he was confrontedpublicly by Louise’ mother-in-law. Astonishingly, the secret wassuccessfully kept within the family. The police had beenobserving Charles’ movements, but remained unaware of hisidentity or his intentions. The scene with the mother-in-law waseven reported by one spy as evidence that Charles had beenhaving an affair with her, not Louise. Finally, Charles respondedby taking another equally destabilising mistress, the fiery andpowerful Princesse de Talmond.Although Charles’ love letters do not survive, young Louise’sdo, and they reveal the depth of the passion and the tragedy of itsfailure. It is only possible to imagine the effect on Charles,already fragile and then denied the only thing he had foundwhich offered him any comfort. Worse still, the son which Louisebore him, a little Charles who carried a false father’s surname,died just a few months later. It was the only son Charles wouldever have, and he was not able to know him. As ever, the Princebore these inner torments by disguising them with a mask. Nolonger, however, did he hide behind a smile and a piece ofwinning charm, but rather behind a display of regal haughtiness,and of callous indifference. Inside, he believed that every lasthappiness was denied to him, and that he was being chased byfuries and assassins alike.176

T HE F UGITIVE P RINCEBy this time, Charles was in serious financial difficulties. Hespent vast sums of money which he did not possess, living on thecredit of the people’s hero, and continued to become increasinglyresistant to the French government. He refused their offers offinancial aid, too proud to become a pensioner of those he knewhad snubbed and betrayed him, but time was running againsthim. Peace was signed between Britain and France in October1748, and the British made sure that one of the stipulations wasthe expulsion of Charles from French territory. The Prince knewwhat was coming, and wrote a well-received protest, publishedand widely read, and no doubt making Louis squirm somewhat.Charles’ continued popularity was becoming an embarrassment,as he had the potential to become a figurehead for opposition tothe government. Desperate for peace, Louis decided Charles hadto go. He was first requested, then instructed. King James thenordered it, in order both to keep France as an ally and to restorehis son to his influence in Rome. Charles, ever the rebel leader,refused to be driven out by his enemies.Charles must have known that he could not win this battle,but like at Culloden, he would fight it out anyway. OnDecember 11th 1748, Charles went to the Opera with defiancein his eyes and a determination not to be cowed by the threatsand warnings he had received. He was arrested, bound withsilken cords, and bundled into a carriage. It is a tribute to hispopularity and his status that the French King was obliged todeploy over 1,200 men in order to arrest Prince CharlesEdward Stuart. The Dauphin was outraged and protested tohis father, and the people of Paris were outraged also. Charles,for all his grit and spirit, now resigned himself to ultimatedefeat. As he was rushed out of Paris he asked his guards, witha genuine sense that he was doomed, whether they were takinghim to Hanover and into the hands of his enemies. His stateof mind was such that he was deprived of his personal armsand, ominously, a pair of compasses which he had contrivedto carry. Charles had hit the bottom of his fortunes, and was177

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITready to commit to himself to God, by his own hand ifnecessary.Although he was deposited in the papal territory of Avignon,the Prince was soon forced to move on when the Britishthreatened to retaliate against the Papacy. Charles Edward Stuartthen began one of the most perplexing periods of his life, and hebecame once again a fugitive Prince. He went on the run, andwith just as much success as he had done in Scotland. The spiesand agents of every nation desperately sought him out, but invain. By the time anyone discovered where he was, he had gone.His first task was to return to Paris, scene of his greatesthumiliation, but it was not just a desire to get one over KingLouis which motivated him. He also had to set his affairs inorder, and whilst in Paris he made the appropriate arrangementswith his banker, and for the continued flow of communications,as well as securing the very useful allies which Talmond and hercircle now became. However, as much as the activity and theadventure suited Charles and gave his life a renewed momentum,it was little comfort to his darkening state of mind. He oncejotted, sadly and rhetorically: ‘what can a bird do that has notfound a right nest? He must flit from bough to bough.’Whilst criss-crossing Europe, the Prince assumed numerousidentities and a number of disguises. In July 1750, for example,he appeared under the name Smith, in an ‘Abbe’s dress with ablack patch over his eye and his eyebrows black’d.’ False beards, evennoses, allowed him to travel more freely. To the surprise of hishost, Lady Primrose, he even turned up in the heart of Londonand converted to the Anglican faith on the Strand. His projectfor another Rising having come to nothing, the Prince was soonback on the road. His relationship with Talmond deterioratedlike all his other schemes, and at a time when he was hiding outin a Parisian convent, it also turned violent. Talmond was a fieryand fascinating character in her own right, much older and moreexperienced than Charles and his match in temperament.Although she helped and sheltered him during this difficult time,178

T HE F UGITIVE P RINCEshe also contributed to his instability, and the affair wasdamaging to both of them.Although this period can be seen as simply a catalogue ofmisfortunes and decline, it is also important to notice thatCharles was still working hard for the restoration of his fortunes.He became involved in increasingly desperate and unlikely plans,but they were plans nonetheless. Writing in March 1751, hehints at his continued determination, and his motives both forplotting and for running:I have nothing at heart but the interest of my country, and Iam always ready to sacrifice everything for it. Life and rest, butthe least reflection as to ye point of honour I cannot pass over.Charles Edward StuartNevertheless, he continued to be thwarted at every turn.Undermining much of his effort were the twin problems of hisown instability, and the regular but often exaggerated reports ofhis decline. His enemies spread word of his drunkenness andinability to control himself, whilst his invisibility meant thatthere was little chance for him to disprove them. In addition, hisparanoia was increasing daily, and he wrote in 1753 of, ‘not beingable to breath as much as ye fresh aire without greatest apprehension.’In this, at least, Charles was not to blame. When he claimed thathis father’s circle was riddled with informants, he was right, andhe feared that those closest to him also were traitors. It was a fearhe had developed in Scotland, compounded by the failure of theRising and the attitudes of former friends, but the key blow camewith the failure of the Elibank Plot.By the end of 1752, a complex cross-Channel operation hadbeen planned, and Charles was optimistic that the London-basedplot could successfully seize King George and open the way for apopular rising and reinforcement by foreign troops. The Princemay even have crossed to the south coast of England in advanceof the coup. He had made it quite clear that no word of the plans179

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITshould be passed to his father, because he did not trust thecourtiers in Rome. Sadly for Charles, he was right to be on hisguard. Every detail was already being passed on to Rome, toLondon, and even to Lord Elcho! He did not know it, nor was itmade clear to us until Andrew Lang uncovered it, but PrinceCharles was being betrayed most probably by Young Glengarry,the notorious Pickle the Spy. 48 The British government, neverreally at threat since it knew every detail of the plot, barelyreacted. The plot was never put into action, but it did have acasualty. Doctor Archie Cameron, younger brother of Lochiel,was arrested in Scotland and hanged without even the dignity ofa trial, in 1753. He was the last to die for the ’45. The failure, thecertain but undiscovered betrayal, the dashing of yet anotherhope, and the futile killing of Dr Cameron, were all heavyburdens for Charles to bear. He felt he was being ground into thedust, trapped in a fruitless battle against time. All the vigour,optimism, and energy he had once been able to muster at awhim, now drained from him visibly.Charles was now desperately in need of some stability,although he still refused to return to Rome. He longed for theonly thing that had truly offered him a glimpse of happiness. Hehad lost his cousin Louise, too painful to imagine, and his otherattempts at relationships had been scandalous, damaging, orfleeting. The deepening crisis of his depression meant that heneeded the comfort and consolation of a companion. He wasconscious of the hope that such a relationship offered, but alsohad a tragically naive assumption that such things could simplybe made to happen by his will for it. Charles sought outClementina Walkinshaw, who had nursed him during an illness48 In 1756, Charles warned his father that he suspected someone in his circle:‘allow me now to take the liberty to mention some persons you should haveguard against, and not to trust. Tencin, O’Bryan and his lady, Warren, LordClare, MacGregor, Sir J. Harrington, Eneas Macdonald, Sullivan, ye twoGlengaries...’180

T HE F UGITIVE P RINCEat Bannockburn. His mediator was O’Sullivan, from whom heseems to have become distant during his wanderings, andeventually Mrs Clemi, as he referred to her, answered his call. AtLiege, they took up a domestic life as Count and CountessJohnson, Charles it appeared, ‘keeps her well and seems to be veryfond of her,’ according to Pickle at any rate, and in late 1753 theyhad a daughter, Charlotte. Despite the opportunity forhappiness, however, Charles was still on the run, constantlymoving around and unable to rest. He still believed that he wasbeing pursued by spies, quite rightly, and assassins. This, alongwith his deep depressions, mood swings and worseningalcoholism, made it impossible for the Prince, under whatevername, to settle into his new domestic setting. Clementina was astrong character, and she loved Charles even if he probably didnot truly love her, and it was eight years before the relationshipfinally collapsed. In the meantime, most of Charles’ remainingfriends and supporters had abandoned him. When the EarlMarischal left his service in 1755, Charles wrote: ‘my heart isbroke enough without that you should finish it.’Little did Charles know, but it was not Marischal who wouldfinish him. There remained yet further heart-break; one lastterrible event which would end what spirit yet remained withinhim. At the end of July 1760, Mrs Clemi left Charles in secret,with the connivance of King James, and she took his daughterwith her. The relationship had clearly been unhappy, despite theoccasional moments of tenderness, and was marred by drink,depression, and by the unforgivable descent of Charles’depression and anger into violence. The loss of his daughter,however, for whom Charles genuinely cared and who was, tohim, the only person he had loved without being betrayed orthwarted by in return, resulted in absolute devastation. Hescoured France for the girl, awaking all his contacts and openingevery channel of communication, but in the end received noword. The scale of the search is visible in a letter to Charles fromJohn Gordon in September, informing him of his failure to locate181

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITCharlotte, and the widespread knowledge of the Prince’srighteous wrath and despair:I can assure you She is not at St. Germains, Lord Nairn’s,Gasks, Lady Ramsay’s, and not at the Convent of Conflans, norRue Cassette, and I am convinced that there is not a singleperson of the 3 kingdoms here that durst pretend to keep theChild from you.John GordonIn the end, Charles gave up the fight. As had becomecustomary, he put on a mask. If he could not recover his child,however deeply it hurt him, then he would pretend to all theworld that he did not want her. For many years he would denyCharlotte to others and to himself, and only the passing of timewould soften his heart again to Clementina. This really was thelast tragedy he could bear. He would never again feel anything sokeenly, even though there were many sad events still to befallhim. His heart, it seemed, had become numb. He did not carewhen his supporters wrote to admonish him, nor when hisfriends deserted him. He no longer really cared what was saidabout him, or to whom. He withdrew into himself, and wrotesad drunken scribbles: ‘to Speke to Ete/to Think to Drink/to ete tothink/to Speke to Drink.’ These were Charles’ darkest and mostlonely days, and he became a passenger of his fate rather than itsdriving force.It is important, however, to acknowledge that Charles was notpermanently incapable during this period. When he was not lostin drink and self-pity, there were moments of clarity, and thePrince attempted to keep the Cause alive. A friend of the EarlMarischal even reported that he had seen Charles in London, inattendance at the coronation of King George III. If he was therein September 1761, in the midst of his saddest period, it wasperhaps an attempt to raise his spirits by enjoying another of hisincognito adventures. When he was approached, Charles182

T HE F UGITIVE P RINCEreportedly said that he gone to the coronation out of merecuriosity, but that he envied King George little. It may never beproven whether Charles did muster the energy to go, but it is anattractive thought. The following year, the Prince wrote:Assure my friends in Britain that I am in perfect good health,that I hope it will come like a thunderbolt, and that I shall notneglect to recompense every worthy subject as soon as it shall bein my power. They may be assured I shall live and die in thereligion of the Church of England, which I have embraced,and that no kind thing can be said but what I wish to all mydear friends, for whose good I wish more to be amongst themthan for any advantage it would be to myself, as I have nogreat ambition except for their welfare.Charles Edward StuartThat he hoped news of his good health would come, ‘like athunderbolt,’ to his enemies, sounds as if Charles knew exactlywhat was being said of him, and perhaps that he knew well thathis state was indeed far from perfect. Although it gives a hint ofthe old Charles, the optimism is more defiant than it is genuine.During those sad, long, wandering years, the flashes ofbrilliance and ability which Charles had shown in his greatadventure became fewer, and they became dimmer. By launchinghimself into the politics of the French court without givinghimself the opportunity to recover from what he had endured,Charles denied himself the time he needed to strengthen himselffor the road ahead. The succession of political disappointments,coupled with the massive personal hurts – Henry’s betrayal, theloss of Louise and their son, the failure of Elibank, and finally thekidnapping of his daughter – prevented Charles’ naturalenthusiasm and optimism from finding expression. Drink anddepression did the rest. It became a vicious circle, as reports fromhis enemies and increasingly from his friends, wounded Charles’reputation as well as his pride, and it thus became ever less likely183

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITthat he could one day recover his fortunes.All this time, King James – perhaps the only true hope ofrescuing Charles – had tried in vain to restore relations with hisson. Letters went unanswered, and advice went unheeded. Jameshad advised Charles against getting involved with Clementina,and then had helped her to mastermind her escape from him,and the Prince found this hard to forgive. James had soon begunto despair for his son, but he had always been better at handlingdisappointment than Charles had been. Perhaps aware that hehad wounded his son, the King desperately appealed forreconciliation, but he too was at the mercy of the unflatteringreports spreading over Europe and can only have guessed at thetrue depths of Charles’ private agony. It is also necessary toconsider Charles’ pride: it is not easy for a son who has failedutterly in his mission, failed even in his vow to die in theattempt, and who has yielded to his personal demons, to returnand face his father. To do so would be the final acknowledgementthat he had failed, and it would also involve submitting to hisfather’s authority. James knew all this, but also knew that he wasan old man and had few chances left to settle his affairs:Could I but once have the satisfaction of seeing you before i dy,I flatter myself that I might soon be able to convince you thatyou never could have had a more tender Father than myself nora truer friend, wholly taken up with all that may conduce toyour temporal and Eternal Happiness.King James IIIAt last, at the end of 1765, thoroughly exhausted by his strugglefor independence, Charles Edward Stuart yielded to Henry’s pleasfor him to return. The Cardinal knew that the old King wasdying, and that Charles had little time for reconciliation.Tragically, James died on January 1st 1766, before Charles wasable to reach Rome. The two never made their peace, nor is itclear whether Charles had really wanted to. His indifference was184

T HE F UGITIVE P RINCEprobably another mask, to disguise his own consciousness of bothfailure and of guilt. If King James had actually reigned, it wouldhave been the longest reign in British history: over sixty-fouryears. In reality, he died at 78 years of age and at the end of along life of exile and disappointment, endured with stoicism andgrace. He knew at his end that his family would never berestored, and that he left his sons little hope of prosperity beyondthat which they could secure themselves. By the time BonniePrince Charlie at last arrived in Rome, he was Charles III ofGreat Britain and Ireland. Those who acknowledged it numberedbut a few.185

Epilogue: King Charles IIIOn January 31st 1788, it was announced that Charles EdwardStuart, King Charles III of Great Britain and Ireland, the YoungPretender, was dead. Almost immediately the rumour spread thathe had in fact died the previous night. The news, they said, hadbeen delayed to avoid the coincidence that he had died on theanniversary of the martyrdom of King Charles I in 1649. Twoweeks before, Charles had suffered a paralysing stroke. He wassixty-eight years old, and left behind him only his daughterCharlotte and his brother Henry. Charlotte herself would dieshortly after her father, but she had at least preserved the King’sblood in her own illegitimate children. Henry, Cardinal York andnow the titular King Henry IX, would survive the rigours of theFrench Revolution but could never provide an heir. As CharlesIII passed away, it was with the full knowledge that the Stuartdynasty, having clung on in exile for one hundred years, diedwith him.The reign of the King had been fairly unremarkable. It wasmarked mainly by two great battles, both of which endedwithout a winner and did little to restore Charles’ reputation.The first, and probably the most important to Charles, was thefight for the acknowledgement of his title. Although the Popehad personally given the sermon at King James’ funeral, anddespite Henry’s efforts to mediate from within the Vatican,Clement XIII refused to acknowledge Charles as King, even inexile. Not surprisingly, Charles’ flirtation with Anglicanism andhis life-long lack of enthusiasm for Catholicism, weighed heavilyagainst him. His main enemy, however, was time. It was now solong since a Stuart had held sway in London that the purpose –and the expense – of maintaining their exiled court now seemedsomewhat diminished. To Charles, the Pope’s refusal was apersonal insult which had to be opposed. The result was that thenew king withdrew from Roman society, too proud to risk not186

E PILOGUE: KING C HARLES IIIbeing afforded the dignity of his titles. Likewise, a curious ladynoted after meeting Charles in May 1767, that, ‘he has all thereason in the world to be melancholy, for there is not a soul who goesnear him, not knowing what to call him.’ Seclusion was somethingthat always served him ill, and Charles’ unhappy lifestylecontinued. Eventually, Henry managed to secure his brother apersonal audience in the Vatican, which alleviated the sense ofwounded honour even if it did not result in theacknowledgement which Charles had originally demanded.Despite the setback of the Pope’s intransigence, the promotionfrom Prince to King suited Charles rather well. He had manyproblems when he returned to Rome in 1766, ranging from hispersonal finances to the overturning of his coach on the road, butthere were also positive points. To Charles, Rome was two things:it was the Church, and it was his childhood. The former hadnever been all that important to him personally, but had beenhugely so for the rest of his family. Loyalty to the CatholicChurch had been the cause of family’s exile. It had driven hismother to obsession, and to an early grave. It had stolen Henryfrom him. The Church dominated Rome, and therefore held aninfluence over Charles which he deeply resented. As for the cityitself, it was a reminder of another world. Charles had grown upthere, in that strange atmosphere of exiles, spies and diplomats,under the authority of his father and his tutors. Those were thedays when Charles had a mission to focus his mind, thedetermination to train his body for war, and a golden destiny infront of him. When he had left Rome, it was to seize that destiny,and he had promised his father that he would either succeed ordie. Now he was returning, having failed in his mission and losthis opportunity. Charles had been unable to face returning to thecity of his youth, but the death of his father had eased the shameof returning empty handed. Perhaps life in the city could bebearable if he was in command of his own household, and freefrom his father’s eternal patience and his dubious courtiers.The change also brought with it stability, a palace where he187

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITcould hold his court without the pretence of an alias or disguise.The soothing effects of the new reign are noticeable in thePrince’s attitude. Unusually he was willing to let bygones pass andhe renewed dormant lines of correspondence, even writing withsome warmth to his old mistress Talmond. The same eye-witnessquoted earlier provides a reassuring portrait of the King in early1767:As for his person it is rather handsome, his face ruddy and fullof pimples. He looks good-natured, and was overjoyed to see me– nothing could be more affectionately gracious. I cannotanswer for his cleverness, for he appeared to me to be absorbedin melancholy thoughts, a good deal of distraction in histhoughts and frequent brown studies. I had time to examinehim, for he kept me near two hours.This is not the picture we are so often given, of the surly, violentdrunk who was incapable either of kindness or of politeness.Those blacker moments came and went, throwbacks to dark daysin his recent past, but after all that loneliness there was somecomfort to be found in receiving visitors. Charles would keepcurious travellers engaged with stories of his exploits, and wouldseize the opportunities to remember the happier times he hadknown, and the colourful characters who had sheltered him. Nodoubt there was an increasing romance in the telling, but afterthe guest’s departure those torments became fresh again as theKing’s mind drifted solemnly into renewed loneliness, and a littlemore brandy. The new life in Rome lacked true depth, and thecharade of kingship was rather more like life as a privategentleman. Charles was being deprived of the activity that heneeded to keep himself focussed.The arrival of Charles’ new Queen, Louise of Stolberg, wassupposed to open a new chapter for the King. The young,attractive, flirtatious Louise, entered Rome at his side in April1772 and quickly eroded all Charles’ hopes of a happy and stable188

E PILOGUE: KING C HARLES IIImaturity. The realisation that she would never be a real sovereignsoon drove aside the girl’s initial excitement: this was not thelifestyle she had expected. For both, the marriage gave a burst ofsocial renewal, but Charles lacked the stamina for the interactionLouise craved. When the Swiss writer Bonstetten was in Rome in1772, he recorded that:The Pretender was large, lean, of a kindly disposition,talkative. He delighted to speak English, and spoke much andwillingly of his adventures, interesting enough for strangers,whilst those around him might possibly have been obliged tolisten to them a hundred times. His young wife laughedheartily at the history of his having been disguised in woman’sclothes, considering his mien and stature.Charles Victor de BonstettenLouise’ laughter somewhat exposes the differences betweenhusband and wife. To Charles, much as he had himself foundsome amusement in this story, the memories of the ’45 werepotentially harmful. Louise was not only naive and insensitive,but was also increasingly of the opinion that Charles had littleuse to her, or indeed anybody. She began first to pity herhusband, then to despise him.Charles’ restlessness was not eased, then, but the arrival of hisyoung bride. The relationship was clearly unhappy, and Charleswas soon deteriorating again. He took comfort in leaving Rome,for the more receptive atmosphere of Florence. Here, in hismodest palace with the British Royal Arms on the pediment, hefound life easier and the climate less aggressive. Louise, however,was rapidly undermining all such efforts for peace. In June 1775,when Charles fell dangerously ill, she wrote that, ‘two days ago Isaw when I was to become mistress of my own destiny. Death anddisease danced above the head of my lord and master.’ The hostilityis staggering: she was willing Charles to die. Perhaps to spite her,he insisted on recovering and fought on for over a decade more.189

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITHis health was now a constant worry, and the British governmentagent, Horace Mann, described Charles to Horace Walpole inMay 1779: ‘a declared fistula, great sores in his legs, andinsupportable in stench.’ Increasingly, he had to be carried in alitter. His legs had bothered him ever since his highlandadventures. The strain of such a lifestyle, especially consideringLouise’ increasingly hostile attitude, her provocations, and herwillingness to entertain young gentleman at the palace, began topress Charles’ mental stability to breaking point once more. Hedid not have the energy to retaliate against Louise, but wouldfrustrate her admirers’ designs by staying up late in adjacentrooms to them, so that nothing untoward could occur.Eventually, of course, young passions found a way – much likeCharles had ensured when he had known another Louise – andhis wife began an affair with the rakish Count Alfieri.On 30th November 1780, breaking point was reached. It wasSt Andrew’s Night, a date guaranteed to draw out the darkestmemories of 1746, and which was certain to leave Charles drunkand isolated. According to reports, Charles unleashed his full furyon his wife, attacking her and even attempting to strangle her.Finally unable to bear life with the brutish drunk, she publiclyescaped from him and took refuge with Alfieri, persuadingeverybody, including Cardinal Henry and the Pope, that she hadbeen deeply wronged. Society was horrified, sided with Louise,and began to penalise Charles by transferring part of his pensionsover to her. Charles was humiliated.However, the story has all the hallmarks of a setup. No doubtCharles was drunk that night, perhaps even aggressive too, butthe following events moved too quickly and decisively in Louise’favour to be convincing. At last, in March 1783, Charles was ableto set the record straight. We may never know what had actuallyoccurred, but when Henry visited his brother the truth wasapparently laid bare. The ever watchful Horace Mann dulyreported:190

E PILOGUE: KING C HARLES IIIThe tables are now turned. The cat, at last, is out of the bag.The Cardinal of York’s visit to his brother gave the latter anopportunity to undeceive him, proving to him that thecomplaints laid to his charge of ill-using her were invented tocover a Plot formed by Count Alfieri.The humiliation was now Henry’s – and the Pope’s – to bear.They had been sucked in by the devious girl’s machinations, andnow it was clear that Charles had not been as culpable as hadbeen widely believed.This was the curse of King Charles III. For so long, he hadbeen seen as a liability, politically dangerous and socially volatile,and increasingly lacking in purpose and value. Stories of hisdrink, his anger and potential violence, and his mental instability,had circulated unopposed for forty years. Even those closest tohim, Henry especially, had been at the mercy of such reports,apparently verified by gossipy staff and unchecked by Charles’tendency for isolation. Too late, it was revealed that maybe theyhad all misjudged him. The stain of those long years of declinewould never lift, and they would tarnish Charles’ image forever.By applying his behaviour in later life retrospectively, it has beenpossible to diminish his responsibility for the success of the ’45,and his true qualities and achievements have been brushed aside.Strangely, almost in spite of what happened to Charles later, theredeveloped the legend of a highland hero, of Bonnie PrinceCharlie, which tells his story as if he sailed into the mists off Lochnan Uamh, never to be seen again.In reality, the legend is the more truthful account. The manwho landed at Borrodale in July 1745 had changed significantlyby the time he left little over a year later, and then he changedalmost beyond recognition as the years rolled mercilessly overhim. When he had first arrived in Scotland, Charles EdwardStuart was young and inexperienced, but driven and determined.He had a deep awareness of the expectations which rested uponhim, of the blood in his veins, and of the difficulty of his191

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITposition. He had grown to believe that he alone could restore hisdynasty, encouraged by stories of hurricanes ravishing Hanoveron the day of his birth, and had sacrificed his childhood in orderto prepare his body for the trials of overthrowing a government.When the French King had prevaricated, Charles had shruggedoff the insult and the disappointment, and through his own willhe had engineered the beginning of an adventure which wouldshake the British establishment to its core. This was CharlesEdward Stuart as the youthful hero, as Aeneas.Between July and December 1745, the young Prince had beenforced to mature quickly. He had shown himself at his best,perhaps, in those early days in Borrodale. Day after day, olderand wiser men with little concern for courtly etiquette or naivesentimentality, men on whom every hope rested, told him thatthey would not support him and that he could not succeed.Nevertheless, many of these men saw something in the youthwho stood before him which they could not refuse. We have seenhow, with a combination of charm and carefully chosen flatteries,with displays of sacrifice and a willingness to share in risk andhardship, and by demonstrations of astounding personal driveand self-belief, the 24 year old gathered, consolidated, and leadhis army to victory. More impressive still, Charles demonstrated amaturity many still attempt to deny of him, by showing that hisdrive was matched with a political awareness which enabled himto secure the loyalty or acquiescence of many who were notnatural supporters. His conduct throughout the Rising would bestarkly contrasted by that of men considered more experiencedand capable. Against all the odds, against even the advice of hisfriends, he led his army to within a week of total victory.The second half of the campaign, December 1745 to April1746, saw Charles being sorely tested. He struggled, as a youngman with little experience to back up his judgements, to sell hisstrategic vision to an increasingly uncertain but assertive council.They persisted in viewing the Rising as a prelude to a Frenchinvasion, and they were determined to restrict their activities to192

E PILOGUE: KING C HARLES IIIthe theatres with which they were most familiar. Charles, on theother hand, having grown up amongst the spies, diplomats, andfalse hopes of the exiled court, and having endured first-hand theslippery nature of Parisian politics, was under no such delusions.The longer he was in Scotland, the more forces would be amassedagainst him, and the more that happened, the less eager theFrench would be to engineer a solution, as they would find a freerhand on their own frontline in Flanders. The only answer, asCharles alone seems to have known, was a rapid and decisivecampaign which swept him to London with minimumbloodshed and brought about a sudden regime change. It cannotbe known for sure what would have happened next, but pressingforwards always offers more opportunities than consciouslyheading backwards. Gradually, Charles sensed his control wasslipping from the army, as his authority was eroded by, amongstother things, the overbearing insensitivity of Lord GeorgeMurray. His frustrations and his growing sense that the initiativehad been lost – and therefore probably the war – led Charles toincreasing irascibility, and, not for the last time in his life, hismental strains began to manifest themselves as physical illnesses.After the collapse of the highland campaign, which had shownsignificant promise prior to the final confrontation withCumberland, Charles managed to maintain his manners, hischarm, and the relentless optimism with which he had galvanisedhis forces for so long. As much as he managed to bear andendure, and as much as he could cover his fears with smiles andfishing, the months which followed drained the young man of hisenergy and his drive. It was also a period which laid him bare,which removed the last pretences of royalty from him, and whichexposed the vulnerability of his position. Charles Edward Stuart,whether he was with Cameron of Lochiel, or Flora MacDonald,his father the King, or Louis of France, was dependent foreverything on other people. This was a trap which he would feelkeenly for the rest of his life. He never forgot the kindnesses hereceived at the hands of those who asked nothing in return, nor193

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITdid he forgive those who demanded of him guarantees andpromises before they would act. For those on whom he had reliedand trusted, but who had failed him in one way or another, hereserved a life-long enmity. When he returned to the continent,he distanced himself from the people he had grown to distrustmost in Scotland, for which he has ever since been seen as callousand ungrateful. The truth is simply that the failure of the ’45devastated Prince Charles. It stripped him of everything he hadpersuaded the world that he could be. The sad reality, perhapsonly really noticed by the Paris mob, is that what he had achievedwas genuinely remarkable.At the last, Charles did find something which was close tohappiness. In the same month that he revealed to Henry thetruth about Louise and Alfieri, the King declared his daughter tobe legitimate. 49 Within a year, Charlotte was at his side in thePalazzo Gaudagni in Florence. Charles had loved his daughter,and hated her mother for stealing her from him, but thecorrespondence had now been renewed, and the King’s age andsadness had softened him to Charlotte’s determined efforts foracknowledgement. She found her father in the twilight of his day,exhausted and, in his own words, ‘so bothered in the head.’ Theyears of disappointment lay heavily upon him, but at last he hadfound someone who could offer him some consolation, a littlemodest comfort, and a kindly voice in his ear. This is what hehad needed from Louise de Montbazon, Talmond, Mrs Clemi,and Louise of Stolberg. In most of these women, he had beenunable to find it. In the former case, he had come painfully close,but on a battlefield across which he could never find victory. Hisrelationships had been as doomed as his rebellion, but Charlottewent a significant way to easing his departure. It also meant thathe left behind him an heir, his last duty as king, and something49 This was the prerogative of a King, and it helpfully denied Louise anyinheritance. It did not mean that Charles acknowledged that hisrelationship with Clementina Walkinshaw had been formal.194

E PILOGUE: KING C HARLES IIIHenry could never achieve. It was fortunate that he never knewof Charlotte’s cancer, which she kept hidden from him, andwhich killed her so soon after his own passing. Softened,comforted, Charles found it in him at last to provide forClementina, to show Charlotte off to society, and he evenmanaged a return to Rome. It was there, in the Palazzo Mutiwhere he had known both hope and failure, that the King finallyfound his eternal peace.Charles Edward Stuart can never really be remembered asKing Charles III of Great Britain, France and Ireland. He wasking only in his mind, and by his right. His reign wasunproductive, marred by personal tragedies, and largelyunrecognised. Nor should he be remembered for the agonisingyears of pain, turmoil, and loneliness.Instead, we should remember Charles, Prince of Wales andDuke of Rothesay; the victor of Prestonpans and Falkirk; theman who captured Edinburgh without shedding blood; the manwho turned seven men into an army; who conquered virtually allScotland with just a few thousand followers; the leader whopenetrated deep into England and to within striking distance ofthe government. He offered his father’s enemies amnesty, showedhis own opponents mercy, and proposed to his people a liberalmanifesto based on toleration and reform. He was a soldier, aleader, and a capable politician. He was also a commander whohumbled his enemies so much that it forced them to commit actsof astonishing brutality in order to redress the stain of theirfailures. Charles Edward Stuart frightened King George’s societyuntil it madly believed its own wild propaganda, until it wasobliged to whip up its people into a state of bigoted folly whichbelies the supposed enlightenment of the age. The nationalanthem, written as a prayer for salvation in the aftermath ofPrestonpans, stands testament to the dread which CharlesEdward Stuart could provoke.For a man of twenty-five, these were astonishing achievements,and the optimism, the hope, and the ambition of this195

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITprince are the messages which ought to be taken from his life: ifyou have the drive and the will, then you can force the world totake notice.There is one more point which ought to be considered here.There are those who say that to undertake the Rising withoutadequate foreign support was selfish in the extreme, and that as aresult Prince Charles bears the responsibility for the disaster ofCulloden, the atrocities which followed, and the death ofhighland society in the aftermath. To those who think this, Isubmit that the purgatory which Charles endured following theRising, over forty years haunted by that brief past, serves asadequate penance for any weaknesses or faults he showed in hisyouth. In later years, when Jacobitism was no longer a politicalthreat, highland culture was to flourish perhaps stronger thanever before. The state visit of George IV to Scotland, Waverleyand Kidnapped, Balmoral and Victoria, all played their part inturn. But central to the re-emergence of Scottish identity,appropriately enough, was Charles Edward Stuart. The memoryof what he attempted would live on in the lands he traversed longafter he had left them, as only his story could unite all parts ofthe nation in a common experience, with the romance andpathos of a doomed hero. For the man who had striven to createScotland’s last truly national army, who had made highland dresshis own, it is a worthy thought that only in his death could hecreate this cultural resurgence. This was Charlie’s parting gift: theeternity of his own legend. As the Duke of Berwick had noted:In great Princes whom nature has marked out for heroes, valourdoes not wait for number of years.196

Appendix IDeclaration of Prince Charles, May 1745Paris, May 16th 1745By virtue and authority of the commission of Regency, grantedunto us by the King our royal father; we are now come to executeHis Majesty’s will and pleasure, by setting up his Royal Standard,and asserting his undoubted right to the Throne of his ancestors.We do therefore, in His Majesty’s name, and pursuant to thetenor of his several declarations, hereby grant a free, full, andgeneral pardon for all treasons, rebellions, and offences whatsoever,committed at any time before the publication hereof,against our royal grandfather, His present Majesty, and ourselves.To the benefit of this pardon, we shall deem justly entitled allsuch of His Majesty’s subjects, as shall testify their willingness toaccept of it, either by joining our forces with all convenientdiligence, by setting up his Royal Standard in other places, byrepairing for our service to any place where it shall be so set up;or, at least, by openly renouncing all pretended allegiance to theusurper, and all obedience to his orders,; or to those of anyperson or persons commissioned, or employed by him, or actingavowedly for him.As for those who shall appear more signally zealous for therecovery of His Majesty’s just rights, and the prosperity of theircountry, we shall take effectual care to have them rewardedaccording to their respective degrees and merits: and weparticularly promise as aforesaid, a full, free, and general pardonto all officers, soldiers, and sailors, now engaged in the service ofthe usurper; provided, that upon the publication hereof, andbefore they engage in any fight or battle against His Majesty’sforces, they quit the said unjust and unwarrantable service, andreturn to their duty, since they cannot but by sensible, that noengagements, entered into with a foreign usurper, can dispense197

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITwith the allegiance they owe to their natural sovereign. And as afurther encouragement to them to comply with their duty, andour commands; we promise to every such officer the same, or ahigher post in our service than that which at present he enjoys,with full payment of whatever arrears may be due to him at thetime of his declaring for us; and to every soldier, trooper, anddragoon, who shall join us, as well as to every seaman andmariner of the Fleet, who shall declare for, and serve us, all theirarrears, and a whole year’s pay to be given to each of them as agratuity, as soon as ever the Kingdoms shall be in a state oftranquillity.We do hereby further promise and declare, in His Majesty’sname, and by virtue of the above said commission; that as soon asever that happy State is obtained, he will, by and with the adviceof a free Parliament, wherein no corruption, nor undue influencewhatsoever shall be used to bypass the votes of the electors, orelected; settle, confirm, and secure all the rights, ecclesiastical andcivil, of each of his respective Kingdoms; His Majesty being fullyresolved to maintain the Church of England, as by lawestablished, and likewise the Protestant churches of Scotland andIreland, conformable to the laws of each respective Kingdom;together with a toleration to all Protestant Dissenters; he beingutterly averse to all persecution and oppression whatsoever,particularly on account of conscience and religion. And weourselves being perfectly convinced of the reasonableness andequity of the same principles; do, in consequence hereof, furtherpromise and declare, that all His Majesty’s subjects, shall be byhim and us maintained in the full Enjoyment and Possession ofall their rights, privileges, and immunities, and especially of allchurches, universities, colleges and schools, conformable to thelaws of the land, which shall ever be the unalterable rule of HisMajesty’s government, and our own actions.And, that this our undertaking may be accompanied with aslittle present inconvenience as possible to the King’s subjects; wedo hereby authorise and require all civil officers and magistrates198

A PPENDIXInow in place and office, to continue, till further orders, toexecute their respective employments in our name, and by ourauthority, as far as may be requisite for the maintenance ofcommon justice, order and quiet: willing and requiring them, atthe same time, to give strict obedience to such orders anddirections, as may, from time to time, be issued out by us, orthose who shall be vested with any Share of our authority andpower.We also command and require all officers of the revenue,customs and excise, all tax-gatherers, of what denominationsoever; and all others who may have any part of the public moneyin their hands, to deliver it immediately to some principalcommander authorised by us, and take his receipt for the same,which shall be to them a sufficient discharge; and in case ofrefusal, we authorise and charge all such our commanders, toexact the same for our use, and to be accountable for it to us, orour officers for that purpose appointed.And having thus sincerely, and in the presence of AlmightyGod, declared the true sentiments and intentions of the King ourroyal father, as well as our own, in this expedition, we do herebyrequire and command all his loving subjects to be assisting to usin the recovery of his just rights, and of their own liberties: Andthat all such, from the age of sixteen to sixty, do forthwith repairto His Majesty’s Royal Standard, or join themselves to such asshall first appear in their respective shires for his service: and also,to seize the horses and arms of all suspected persons, and allammunition, forage, and whatever else may be necessary for theuse of our forces.Lastly, we do hereby require all mayors, sheriffs, and othermagistrates, of what denomination soever, their respectivedeputies, and all others to whom it may belong, to publish thisour declaration at the market crosses of their respective cities,towns and boroughs, and there to proclaim His Majesty, underthe penalty of being proceeded against according to law, for theneglect of so necessary and important a duty: for as we have199

VALOUR DOES NOT WAIThereby graciously and sincerely offered a free and general pardonfor all that is past; so we, at the same time, seriously warn all HisMajesty’s subjects, that we shall leave to the rigour of the law allthose who shall from henceforth oppose us, or wilfully anddeliberately do or concur in any act or acts civil or military, to theLet or detriment of us, our cause or title, or to the destruction,prejudice, or annoyance of those, who shall, according to theirduty and our intentions thus publicly signified, declare and actfor us.200

Appendix IIDeclaration of King James, December 1743Rome, December 23rd 1743James the Eighth, by the Grace of God, King of Scotland, England,France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. to all our lovingsubjects of what degree or quality soever, Greetings.HAVING always borne the most constant affection to ourAncient Kingdom of Scotland, from whence we derive our royalorigin, and where our progenitors have swayed the sceptre withglory through a longer succession of kings than any monarchyupon Earth can at this day boast of, we cannot but behold withthe deepest concern the miseries they suffer under a foreignusurpation, and the intolerable burdens daily added to theiryoke, which become yet more sensible to us, when we considerthe constant zeal and affection the generality of our subjects ofthat our Ancient Kingdom have expressed for us on all occasions,and particularly when we had the satisfaction of being ourselvesamongst them.WE see a nation, always famous for valour and highlyesteemed by the greatest of foreign potentates, reduced to thecondition of a province, under the specious pretence of an unionwith a more powerful neighbour. In consequence of thispretended union, grievous and unprecedented taxes have beenlaid on and levied with severity in spite of all representations thatcould be made to the contrary and these have not failed toproduce that poverty and decay of trade which were easilyforeseen to be the necessary consequences of such oppressivemeasures.TO prevent the just resentments which could not but arisefrom such usage, our faithful highlanders, a people always trainedup and inured to arms, have been deprived of them. Forts and201

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITcitadels have been built to garrison where no foreign invasioncould be apprehended, and a military government has beeneffectually introduced as into a conquered country. It is easy toforesee what must be the consequences of such violent andunprecedented proceedings, if a timely remedy be not put to them,neither is it less manifest that such a remedy can never be obtainedbut by our restoration to the throne of our ancestors, into whoseroyal hands such destructive maxims could never find admittance.WE think it needless to call to mind how solicitous we haveever been, and how often we have ventured our royal person, tocompass this great end, which the Divine Providence seems nowto have furnished us with the means of doing effectually byinspiring our dear brother His Most Christian Majesty to assistus with such a body of forces to be landed in England as mayenable our good subjects there to shake off the yoke under whichthey have likewise felt their share of the common calamities. Ourformer experience leaves us no room to doubt of the cheerful andhearty concurrence of our Scots subjects on this occasion towardsthe perfecting the great and glorious work.BUT that none may be deterred by past miscarriages fromreturning to their duty, and being restored to the happiness theyformerly enjoyed, we in this public manner think fit to makeknown our gracious intentions towards all our people.WE do therefore by this our royal declaration absolutely andeffectually pardon and remit all treasons and other crimeshitherto committed against our royal father or ourselves, fromthe benefit of which we except none but such as shall after thepublication hereof willfully and maliciously oppose us or thosewho shall appear or endeavour to appear in arms for our service.WE further declare that we will with all convenient speed calla free Parliament, that by the advice and assistance of such anassembly, we may be enabled to repair the breaches caused by solong an usurpation, to redress all grievances, and to free ourpeople from the unsupportable burdens of the mall tax and otherhardships and impositions which have been the consequence of202

A PPENDIXIIthe pretended union, that so the nation may be restored to thathonour, liberty, and independence which it formerly enjoyed.WE likewise promise upon our royal word to protect, secure,and maintain all our Protestant subjects in the free exercise oftheir religion, and in the full enjoyment of all their rights,privileges, and immunities, and in the secure possession of allchurches, universities, colleges, and schools, conform to the lawof the land.AND this we shall be ready to confirm in our first Parliamentin which we promise to pass any act or acts that shall be judgednecessary to secure such private person in the full possession ofhis liberty and property, to advance trade, to relieve the poor andestablish the general welfare and tranquility of the nation. In allsuch matters we are fully resolved to act always by the advice ofour Parliaments, and to value none of our titles so much as thatof common father of our people, which we shall ever showourselves to be by our constant endeavours to promote the quietand happiness of all our subjects. And we shall be particularlysolicitous to settle, encourage, and maintain the fishery and linenmanufactory of the nation, which we are sensible may be of suchadvantage to it, and which we hope are works reserved for us toaccomplish.AS for those who shall appear more signally zealous for therecovery of our just rights and the prosperity of their country, weshall take effectual care to reward them according to theirrespective degrees and merits. And we particularly promise asaforesaid our full, free, and general pardon to all officers, soldiers,and sailors now engaged in the service of the usurper, whether bysea or land, provided that upon the publication hereof and beforethey engage in any fight or battle against our forces they quit thesaid unjust and unwarrantable service and return to their duty. Inwhich case we shall pay them all the arrears that shall be at thetime due to them from the usurper. We shall grant to the officersthe same commissions they shall then bear, if not higher, and toall soldiers and sailors a gratification of a whole year’s pay for203

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITtheir forwardness in promoting our service.WE further promise and declare that the vassals of such asshall, without regard to our present declaration, obstinatelypersist in their rebellion and thereby forfeit all pretensions to ourroyal clemency, shall be delivered from all servitude they wereformerly bound to and shall have grants and charters of theirlands to be held immediately of the Crown, provided they, uponthe publication of this our declaration, declare openly for us andjoin heartily in the cause of their country.AND having thus declared or gracious intentions to ourloving subjects, we do hereby require and command them to beassisting to us in the recovery of our rights, and of their ownliberties, and that all our subjects from the age of sixteen to sixtydo upon the setting up of our Royal Standard immediately repairto it, or join themselves to such as shall first appear for us in theirrespective shires, and also to seize the horses and arms of allsuspected person and all ammunition, forage, and whatever elsemay be necessary for the use of our forces.WE also strictly command all receivers, collectors, and otherpersons who may be seized of any sum or sums of money leviedin the name or for the use of the usurper, to retain such sum orsums of money in their own hands till they can pay them to someperson of distinction appearing publicly for us, and demandingthe same for our use and services, whose receipt or receipts shallbe a sufficient discharge for all such collectors, receivers, or otherpersons, their heirs, etc.LASTLY WE DO HEREBY REQUIRE all sheriffs of shires,stewards of stewardries, and their respective deputies, magistratesof royal boroughs, bailiffs of regalities, and all others to whom itmay belong to publish this our declaration at the market crossesof their respective towns and boroughs, and there to proclaim us,under the penalty of being proceeded against according to law,for their neglect of so necessary and important a duty.Given at Our Court at Rome the 23rd day of December 1743in the 43rd year of our reign.204

Appendix IIIDeclaration of Prince Charles, October 1745Edinburgh, October 10th 1745Charles, Prince of Wales, etc., Regent of the Kingdoms of England,Scotland, France and Ireland, and the Dominions thereunto belonging,unto all Hhis Majesty’s subjects, of what degree soever, greetings.As soon as we, conducted by the Providence of God, arrived inScotland, and were joined by a handful of our Royal Father’sfaithful subjects, our first care was, to make public his mostgracious declaration; and in consequence of the large powers byhim vested in us, in quality of Regent, we also emitted our ownmanifesto, explaining and enlarging the Promises formerly made,according as we came to be better acquainted with theInclinations of the people of Scotland. Now that it has pleasedGod so far to smile on our undertaking, as to make us master ofthe ancient Kingdom of Scotland, we judged it proper, in thispublic manner, to make manifest what ought to fill the hearts ofall His Majesty’s subjects, of what nation or province soever, withComfort and satisfaction.We therefore hereby, in His Majesty’s name, declare, that hissole intention is to re-instate all his subjects in the full enjoymentof their religion, laws, and liberties; and that our present attemptis not undertaken, in order to enslave a free people, but to redressand remove the encroachments made upon them; not to imposeupon any a religion which they dislike, but to secure them all inthe enjoyment of those which are respectively at presentestablished among them, either in England, Scotland or Ireland;and if it shall be deemed proper that any further Security begiven to the established Church or clergy, we hereby promised, inhis name, that he shall pass any law that his Parliament shalljudge necessary for that purpose.205

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITIn consequence of the rectitude of our royal father’s intentions,we must further declare his sentiments with regard to thenational debt: that it has been contracted under an unlawfulgovernment, nobody can disown, no more than that it is now amost heavy load upon the nation; yet, in regard that it is for thegreatest part due to those very subjects whom he promises toprotect, cherish and defend, he is resolved to take the advice ofhis Parliament concerning it, in which he thinks he acts the partof a just Prince, who makes the good of his people the sole rule ofhis actions.Furthermore, we here in his name declare, that the same rulelaid down for the funds, shall be followed with respect to everylaw or act of Parliament since the Revolution; and, in so far as, ina free and legal Parliament, they shall be approved, he willconfirm them. With respect to the pretended union of the twoNations, the King cannot possibly ratify it, since he has hadrepeated remonstrances against it from each Kingdom; and sinceit is incontestable, that the principal point then in view, was theexclusion of the Royal Family from their undoubted right to theCrown, for which purpose the grossest corruptions were openlyused to bring it about: but whatever may be hereafter devised forthe joint benefit of both Nations, the King will most readilycomply with the request of his Parliaments to establish.And now that we have, in His Majesty’s name, given you themost ample security for your religion, properties and laws, thatthe power of a British sovereign can grant; we hereby forourselves, as heir apparent to the Crown, ratify and confirm thesame in our own name, before Almighty God, upon the faith of aChristian, and the honour of a prince.Let me now expostulate this weighty matter with you, myfather’s subjects, and let me not omit this first public opportunityof awakening your understandings, and of dispelling that cloud,which the assiduous pens of ill designing men have all along, butchiefly now, been endeavouring to cast on the truth. Do not thepulpits and congregations of the clergy, as well as your weekly206

A PPENDIXIIIpapers, ring with the dreadful threats of popery, slavery, tyrannyand arbitrary power, which are now ready to be imposed uponyou, by the formidable powers of France and Spain? Is not myroyal father represented as a blood-thirsty tyrant, breathing outnothing but destruction to all those who will not immediatelyembrace an odious religion? Or, have I myself been better used?But listen only to the naked truth.I, with my own money, hired a small vessel, ill provided withmoney, arms or friends; I arrived in Scotland, attended by sevenpersons; I publish the King my father’s Declaration, and proclaimhis title, with pardon in one hand, and in the other liberty ofconscience, and the most solemn promises to grant whatever afree Parliament shall propose for the happiness of a people. Ihave, I confess, the greatest reason to adore the goodness ofAlmighty God, who has, in so remarkable a manner, protectedme and my small Army through the many dangers to which wewere at first exposed, and who has led me in the way to victory,and to the capital of this ancient Kingdom, amidst theacclamations of the King my father’s subjects: why then is somuch pains taken to spirit up the minds of the people againstthis my undertaking?The reason is obvious, it is, lest the real sense of the nation’spresent sufferings should blot out the remembrance of pastmisfortunes, and of the outcries formerly raised against the RoyalFamily. Whatever miscarriages might have given occasion tothem, they have been more than atoned for since; and the nationhas now an opportunity of being secured against the like for thefuture.That our family has suffered exile during these fifty sevenyears, everybody knows. Has the nation, during that period oftime, been the more happy and flourishing for it? Have youfound reason to love and cherish your governors, as the fathers ofthe people of Great Britain and Ireland? Has a family, uponwhom a faction unlawfully bestowed the diadem of a rightfulPrince, retained a due sense of so great a trust and favour? Have207

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITyou found more humanity and condescension in those who werenot born to a Crown, then in my royal forefathers? Have theirears been open to the cries of the people? Have they, or do theyconsider only the interest of these nations? Have you reaped anyother benefit from them, than an immense load of debts? If I amanswered in the affirmative, why has their government been sooften railed at in all your public assemblies? Why has the nationbeen so long crying out in vain for redress against the abuse ofParliaments, upon account of their long duration, the multitudeof place-men, which occasions their venality, the introduction ofpenal Laws, and in general, against the miserable situation of theKingdom at home and abroad? All these, and many moreinconveniences must now be removed, unless the people of GreatBritain be already so far corrupted, that they will not accept offreedom when offered to them; seeing the King, on hisRestoration, will refuse nothing that a free Parliament can ask, forthe security of the religion, laws and liberty of his people.The fears of the nation from the powers of France and Spain,appear still more vain and groundless: my expedition wasundertaken unsupported by either: but indeed, when I see aforeign force brought by my enemies against me, and when I hearof Dutch, Danes, Hessians, and Swiss, the Elector of Hanover’sallies, being called over to protect his government against theKing’s subjects, is it not high time for the King my father, toaccept also of the assistance of those who are able, and who haveengaged to support him? But will the world, or any one man ofsense in it, infer from thence, that he inclines to be a tributaryprince, rather than an independent monarch? Who has the betterchance to be independent on foreign powers? He, who with theaid of his own subjects, can wrest the government out of thehands of an intruder: or he, who cannot without assistance fromabroad, support his government, though established by all thecivil power, and secured by a strong military force, against theundisciplined part of those he has ruled over for so many years?Let him, if he pleases, try the experiment, let him send off his208

A PPENDIXIIIforeign hirelings, and put the whole upon the issue of a battle; Iwill trust only to the King my father’s subjects, who were or shallbe engaged in mine and their country’s cause: But,notwithstanding all the opposition he can make, I still trust inthe justice of my cause, the valour of my troops, and theassistance of the Almighty, to bring my enterprise to a gloriousissue.It is now time to conclude, and I shall do it with thisreflection. Civil wars are ever attended with rancour and ill will,which party-rage never fails to produce in the minds of those,whom different interests, principles or views set in opposition toone another; I therefore earnestly require it of my friends to giveas little loose as possible to such passions; this will prove the mosteffectual means to prevent the same in the enemies of our royalcause. And this my declaration will vindicate to all posterity thenobleness of my undertaking, and the generosity of myintentions.Given at our Palace of Holyroodhouse the tenth day ofOctober, One thousand seven hundred and forty five.209

Appendix IVLetter of Lord George Murray, April 1746Letter from Lord George Murray to Charles Edward Stuart,Ruthven Barracks, 17th April 1746May it please your Royal Highness, – As no person in thesekingdomes ventured more franckly in the the cause than myselfand as I had more at stake than all the others put together, so tobe sure I cannot but be very deeply affected with our late loss andpresent situation, but I declare that were your R.H. person insafety, the loss of the cause and the misfortunate and unhappysituation of my countrymen is the only thing that grieves me, forI thank god, I have resolution to bear my own and family ruinewithout a grudge.Sr, you will I hope upon this occasion pardon me if I mentiona few truths which all the Gentlemen of our army seemconvinced of. It was highly wrong to have set up the royalstandard without having positive assurance from his mostChristian majesty that he would assist you with all his force, andas your royal family lost the crown of these realms upon theaccount of France, The world did and had reason to expect thatFrance would seize the first favourable opportunity to restoreyour August family.I must also acquaint your R.H. that we were all fullyconvinced that Mr O’ Sullivan whom your R.H. trusted with themost essential things with regard to your operations wasexceedingly unfit for it and committed gross blunders on everyoccasion of moment: He whose business it was, did not so muchas visit the ground where we were drawn up in line of Battle, andit was a fatal error yesterday to allow the enemy those walls upontheir left which made it impossible for us to break them, and theywith their front fire and flanking us when we went upon theattack destroyed us without any possibility of our breaking them,210

A PPENDIXIVand our Atholl men lost a full half of their officers and men. Iwish Mr O’Sullivan had never got any other charge in the Armythan care of the Bagage which I have been told he has beenbrought up to and understood. I never saw him in time of Actionneither at Gladsmuir, Falkirk nor in the last, and his orders werevastly confused.The want of provisions was another misfortune which had themost fatal consequence. Mr Hay whom Y.R.H. trusted with theprincipal direction of ordering provisions of late and withoutwhose orders a boll of meal or forthing of monie was not to bedelivered, has served Y.R.H. egregiously ill, when I spoke to him,he told me, the thing is ordered, it will be got etc. but heneglected his duty to such a degree that our ruin might probablybeen prevented had he done his duty: in short the last three dayswhich were critical our army starved. This was the reason ournight march was rendered abortive when we possibly might havesurprised and defeat the enemy at Nairn, but for want ofprovisions a third of the army scattered to Inverness he and theothers who marched had not the spirits to make it quick as wasnecessary being faint for want of provisions.The next day, which was the fatal day, if we had got plenty ofprovisions, we might have crossed the water of Nairn and drawnup so advantageously that we would have obliged the enemy tocome to us, for they were resolved to fight at all hazards, atprodigious disadvantage, and probably we would in that casehave done by them as they unhappily have done by us.In short Mr O’Sullivan and Mr hay had rendered themselvesodious to all our army and had disgusted them to such a degreethat they had bred a mutiny in all ranks that had the battle (not)come on they were to have represented their grievance to Y.R.H.for a remedy. For my own part I never had any particulardiscussion with either of them, but I ever thought them incapableand unfit to serve in the stations they were placed in.Y.R.H. knows I always told I had no design to continue in thearmy: I would of late when I came last from Atholl have resigned211

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITmy commission, but all my friends told me it might be ofprejudice to the cause at such a critical time. I hope your R.H.will now accept my demission. What commands you have for mein any other situation please honour me with them.I am with great zeal, Sr, Your R.H. most dutifull and humbleservant,GEORGE MURRAYI have desir’d Mr Sheridan to leave £500 of the money he haswith him with Clunie, for the use of many who are in want. Wewill wait for your R.H.’s directions for that and other things.212

BibliographyPrimary SourcesCarlyle, A. Autobiography of the Rev. Dr. Alexander Carlyle...,Boston, 1861.Elcho, Lord D. A Short account of the Affairs of Scotland 1744-6,London, 1907.Forbes, Rev R. [ed], The Lyon in Mourning, III Volumes,Edinburgh, 1895.Johnstone, Cpt J. A Memoir of the ’45, ed. B Rawson, London,1958.Livingstone A, Aikman C W H & Stuart Hart B [Eds.] NoQuarter Given: The Muster Roll of Prince Charles EdwardStuart’s Army, 1745-6, Glasgow, 2001.Murray, J. ‘Memorials of John Murray of Broughton,’Publications of the Scottish History Society XXVII, Edinburgh,1898.O’Sullivan, Col J. [eds. Taylor A & H]. 1745 & After, London,1938.Secondary and Mixed SourcesBailey, G. Falkirk or Paradise! The Battle of Falkirk Muir,Edinburgh 1996.Cadell, Gen Sir R. Sir John Cope and the Rebellion of 1745,Edinburgh, 1898 (Prestonpans, 2008).Chambers, R. A History of the Rebellion of 1745-6, Edinburgh,1869.Colletta, Gen P. (tr, Horner S.) A History of the Kingdom ofNaples 1734-1825, London, 1858.213

VALOUR DOES NOT WAITCraig, M. Bare-Arsed Banditti: the Men of the ’45, Edinburgh,2009.Cust, E. Annals of the Wars of the Eighteenth Century, London,1862.Douglas, H. The Private Passions of Bonnie Prince Charlie,Stroud, 1998 (previously Bonnie Prince Charlie in Love,Stroud 1995).Duffy, C. The ’45, London, 2003.Duffy, C. Victory at Prestonpans and its significance for the 1745Campaign, Prestonpans, 2008.Eardley Simpson, L. Derby and the ‘45, 1933. Manuscript inauthor’s possession.Ewald, A. The Life & Times of Prince Charles Stuart..., London,1904.Gibson, J S. Edinburgh in the ’45: Bonnie Prince Charlie atHolyrood, Edinburgh, 1995.Gibson, J S. The Gentle Lochiel, Edinburgh, 1998.Johnston, A. Rebellious Scots to Crush, Prestonpans, 2008.Lang, A. Pickle the Spy; or, the Incognito of Prince Charles,London, 1897.Linklater, E. The Prince in the Heather, St Albans, 1976.Lord, S. Walking with Charlie, Witney, 2003.MacDonald, N. The Clan Ranald of Garmoran: a History of theMacDonalds of Clanranald, Edinburgh, 2008.MacLean, F. Bonnie Prince Charlie, London, 1988.Margulies, M. The Battle of Prestonpans 1745, Stroud, 2007.Marshall, R K. Bonnie Prince Charlie, Edinburgh, 1988.214

B IBLIOGRAPHYNorie, W D. The Life & Adventures of Prince Charles EdwardStuart, London, 1901.Pittock, M. The Invention of Scotland: The Stuart Myth and theScottish Identity 1638 to the Present, London, 1991.Pollard, T & Ferguson, N. Prestonpans Battlefield ArchaeologicalProject: Project Design, Glasgow, 2008.Reid, S. 1745: A Military History of the Last Jacobite Rising,Staplehurst, 1996.Reid, S. Like Hungry Wolves: Culloden Moor 16 April 1746,London, 1994.Scott, W. Waverley, or ‘Tis Sixty Years Since, Edinburgh, 1814.Stevenson, R L. Kidnapped, Edinburgh, 1886.Tomasson, K. & Buist, F. Battles of the ’45, London, 1962.Various, Highland Songs of the ‘45, ed. John Lorne Campbell,Edinburgh, 1933.Various, Songs of Scotland, ed. George Farquhar Graham,Edinburgh, 1854.Various, Scots Musical Museum Vol III, ed. James Johnson &Robert Burns, Edinburgh, 1853.Wemyss, A. Elcho of the ’45, Edinburgh 2003.215

About the AuthorArran Johnston was born in Derby,where Charles Edward Stuart’s dreambegan to unravel, in 1985. Althoughhe discovered his interest in the ’45 inhis hometown, it was only aftercoming to Edinburgh University thatthis passion was able to flourish. Bythe time he completed his MA (hons)in Ancient History and Latin, Arranwas a proactive member of the CharlesEdward Stuart Society and acampaigner for the Battle ofPrestonpans (1745) Heritage Trust.He developed an in-depth knowledgeof the ’45 as his work with trusts andmuseums continued to draw him tothe Jacobites. Arran portrays PrinceCharles Edward Stuart at talks and presentations across Britain, aswell as for schools and at battle re-enactments. As an historian, hehas used this opportunity to follow the experiences and emotions ofthe character he has dedicated so much time to studying. He editeda collection of literature relating to the Battle of Prestonpans,published in 2008 as Rebellious Scots to Crush. Now, at the sameage as the Prince was when he campaigned in Scotland, Arran hascommitted the results of his ongoing study of Charles Edward Stuartinto writing.

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